My name is Tony Broadus.
I'm the head men's basketball coach here at Portland Community College.
We participate in the Northwest Athletic Conference, which is a group of community colleges from
Oregon and Washington.
Our first year we finished in third place, we won 15 games, and tied for third just barely
missed the playoffs.
Following year we came back and we won our conference, which was a record and PCC had
never happened, advanced to the NWAC tournament, which had never happened, and then we surprised
everybody and won the whole thing.
I knew we would have some success, I didn't know it would happen that fast, but the guys
worked really hard, we had a great combination of players, and it worked out beautifully.
We do offer tuition waivers, but the majority of our students are attending school on financial
aid or the Oregon Promise, or a combination of both.
Mentoring players, student athletes is a huge part of this job, and especially at the
junior college level I would say, because you've got guys that are in transition, they're
out of high school, they didn't make it to the big school that they wanted to, or maybe
their grades weren't as good to help them get there, so they need that guidance from
a coach or from an adult who can help them navigate the system.
I just wanted to really get things about our program is our assistant coaches are really
strong, they've all played in this league, their fathers have gone to four-year schools,
and so to me my philosophy is you surround your players with as many good people as
you can.
Yeah, well the fast break is a huge part of the game of basketball, and that's where
you get the ball after they've missed it, and you take off and try to get on court and
score before they get set up.
Two words to describe our basketball program, I would say high expectations.
We have high expectations for our guys, as student athletes first and foremost, the expectation
is that you're going to get a two-year degree from Portland Community College while you're
here, and you're going to go on to a four-year school and get a college degree.
High expectations in terms of wins and losses, we expect to win a lot of games and lose very
few and advance to the tournament, and then high expectations for the way you treat people.
On and off the court, in classrooms, in everyday living, if you're a member of our team we
have high expectations for how you carry yourself.
I really love coaching for a variety of reasons, one, you get a chance to help shape the life
of a young person.
You know, you have your parents and they're awesome, but you have your coach, and that
coach just means it's just a different relationship.
Another great reason is to see the growth in people.
For instance, we've got a guy on our team now who, when he first came three weeks ago,
he was really shaky and dribbled, didn't have the confidence, he could lose it off his leg,
but with work over the time of just three weeks now, he's really improved, and he can
go this left, he can go right, he's a good passer, and he'll continue to get better.
You can see the growth of your students where they started from and then where they are,
and that feels good.
I think it's a natural human reaction to feel good to see folks move from one place to the
next.
And so I enjoy it, and then bringing a group of men, 12 young men together, and you are
all set goals at the beginning of the year, and to accomplish those, or to begin to accomplish
some, really it feels good, and when you can check them off, there's nothing like it.
People should come watch us play, and you will really, really come and see a game.
We're not taunting people, we're good sports, I mean, our gym is really cool, it gets loud,
when people cheer, and we've got some high flyers, meaning some guys that can really
jump and catch alley-oops and backwards dunks, so it's really an exciting brand of basketball.
So I encourage students, families, teachers, parents to come check out a game, it's really
inexpensive, it's $5 for a college basketball game, you can't beat it.
Basket, one hand flush, and the entire Portland bench stands as one with that dunk.
Thank you.
