This article first appeared online and in print for The Wilson County News
Sam Casey climbs the ranks as a pro basketball coach
February 09, 2022
By Nannette Kilbey-Smith
From Old Jerusalem to the New World, basketball has taken La Vernia alumnus Sam Casey around the globe.
In 2018, the 2006 La Vernia High School alumnus was setting out for Israel, as head coach for the De La Salle Jerusalem pro basketball team; he shared his excitement at the time with the La Vernia News (See “Sam Casey takes his game abroad,” Sept 20, 2018). The sport has now brought him back to the United States, as head coach of the Connecticut Cobras, another men’s pro basketball team. We caught up with him recently for an update. Jerusalem, he said, was outstanding, a non-stop schedule of basketball and cultural excursions.
“I lived in Old City Jerusalem, just inside the Jaffa Gate next to the Tower of David and a short walk to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which contains the site where Jesus was crucified and Jesus’s empty tomb, where He is believed to have been buried and resurrected,” Casey said.
He found communicating in his new home fairly easy, as most players spoke enough English to understand their new coach. Every game was an uphill battle, as the majority of his players were younger and just starting their pro careers; his team finished their season in the middle of the pack, however.
Seeing the game played differently was a valuable experience, Sam explained.
There were some adjustments. Professional players in the U.S. can command huge salaries, but in many other countries, earn less than six figures. He had to cut a couple of veterans and didn’t realize how the timing of the decision would impact the players.
“A 10-day contract in the NBA is worth $50,000 to $150,000,” Casey said.
“If a player is cut after a 10-day [contract] in the NBA, they’re going to be able to pay their bills until they can find another opportunity. Overseas, the money stops when you get cut; it’s a ruthless reality, which was new to me.”
His stint in Jerusalem stretched him as a coach.
“… I think a year of being a head coach is the equivalent of four years as an assistant,” he said. Evaluating potential players, managing public relations and community relations, meeting league officials, and managing the basketball operations and coaching staff all take time and skill. “You’re always ‘on,’ so to speak,” Casey explained.
“Across the board, I’m a different coach today than I was when I started there, certainly for the better,” he added.
In his new role as head coach with the Connecticut Cobras, an expansion franchise, he recently completed the team’s final invite-only workouts and locked up the training camp roster. Casey was preparing to draft two players at the TBL Combine and Draft Feb. 4-7 in Indianapolis before beginning training ahead of the team’s home opener on March 4.
The La Vernia alum is looking forward to “helping our players take their game to a higher level and grow as professional athletes and teammates” and hopes, “To put it bluntly, to win a championship.”
In addition to growing professionally with his new team, he’s also pursuing doctorate studies with the University of Arizona, doing his coursework online.
Every move in his coaching career has been a step up, he said. He’s remained flexible while pursuing his goals, which has opened new paths for him.
“It’s only when you believe nothing is impossible that the world of possibilities becomes limitless,” Casey said. In basketball, the NBA is the goal, and then it’s to win the championship.
It’s never standing still or being satisfied, Casey said.
“We tell our players, ‘Be where your feet are,’ and I want our players to focus on winning the moment,” the coach explained. “Whatever that moment might be, a drive to the basket or a defensive stop in the post, focus on winning the moment, then the next one, and the one after that. Even if you drop a few moments along the way, you always have a chance to win and find that success unless you decide to stop trying; I’m not going to stop (no one should ever stop) doing that in basketball and in life until I take my last breath on earth.”
Bungee jumping and Elvis
Despite the COVID pandemic, Sam Casey’s been able to travel and soak up culture over the past few years.
This has included cruises, food/drink festivals — and bungee jumping.
The experience, he said, “… is probably the most unnecessary thing one could do, to say nothing of the dangers that go along with it. But how it must feel to plunge towards earth at a breathtaking speed, only to be harnessed and at the last
second snatched and saved from certain death. These experiences are exhilarating, and for me to be done once and savored for a lifetime.”
He also enjoys concerts by Elvis impersonators — he and his parents, Ken and Carmen Casey, are huge Elvis fans. Together, they attended a show by impersonator Dean Z at the Majestic Theatre in San Antonio.
“I’m not sure who had the most fun that night, but I had a blast when he played my request, ‘Polk Salad Annie,’” Casey recalled.
This world traveler enjoys Italian food and has his own recipe for chicken marsala over penne pasta. But when he’s in Texas, one of his indulgences is a visit to Whataburger for a junior sweet and spicy bacon burger.
Comments