Transition to sideline tough for Steel

By LINDA ROTHSTEIN

© St. Petersburg Times, published January 21, 2001

NEW PORT RICHEY -- Cynthia Steel is the first-year girls basketball coach at Gulf, where the team is 4-15. She's originally from Blenheim, Canada, and she played college hoops at Briar Cliff College in Sioux City, Iowa, where she was a three-time NAIA All-American. She was named the team's most valuable player in 1998 and was the Midwest Regional Player of the Year in 1997 and 1998. After graduating with a bachelor's degree in physical education/psychology, Steel served as Briar Cliff's assistant varsity basketball coach and head junior varsity coach. She also earned a master's degree in physical education from the University of South Dakota.

LR: How has your first season been so far?

CS: A couple of words: challenging and interesting. I like challenges. I don't like walking into a program where it's really easy. I've gone through every emotion you can even think of this whole season. Anticipation at the beginning, excitement starting with a high school program by myself instead of helping at a college, and then a little frustration. Just everything at different times. Excited because they're playing better, then frustrated when they're not doing what they normally do. It's challenging.

LR: Is it harder to lose or is it harder when players don't understand what you're trying to tell them?

CS: You know, winning and losing isn't everything. I knew that coming into this program. Everyone wants to win. They look at the losses, and they think there's something wrong, something's not working with the program. It has nothing to do with wins or losses. You come into a program, you've got to work with the athletes, you've got to make sure each athlete is playing up to his or her potential and you've got to make sure the team is playing together. You've got to make sure they're executing what they need to execute. And we've had some games where we've lost by 20 or even 30, but we've played good. We played a good first half, down by six to a couple of really good teams and then we're pretty happy. The girls are pretty happy when we play great. So the losses aren't that big of a deal. But it's frustrating, even after a win, if they don't play well.

LR: Is there a big difference between coaching at the college level and coaching at the high school level?

CS: Is there a big difference? Let me tell you. I was at a NAIA school and I was assistant there and we were top-five in the nation, so we had a pretty good program. And coming (to Gulf), I just assumed these girls knew a lot of the basic fundamentals, and they didn't. I mean I walked into the first practice with my assistant, Coach (Tim) Stratton, and I had my whole practice planned out. I gave them a sheet with all the times and then we started explaining things to these girls and they had no idea. We just had to break things down a little more.

LR: What's the difference between playing and coaching?

CS: That's tough, that's really tough. Definitely playing is better; playing is more fun because you can get out there and do what you need to do. Coaching is difficult because you have to coordinate all these different personalities, all their different dreams and all their different talents and all their different skills and try to help them play together and help them realize that each person has a job, and it's not the same job for everybody. And it's almost like I want to tell them, "this is what you do,' and then they don't do it. "I wish I could go out and show you.' It's so much easier being out there and being able to have a little more control. On the sidelines, it doesn't matter how much you say or how encouraging you can be, it's them. They don't realize, it's all them.

LR: What were your aspirations after you graduated? Did you think about the WNBA or going overseas?

CS: Yes, I wanted to play. My entire life, that's all I was going to do, I was going to play basketball. That's why when basketball didn't work out, I had no clue. My year after I was done playing was the hardest year of my life. My identity was taken away from me. I tried talking to some scouts to try to go to Europe and play. I went to a couple of open WNBA tryouts and I just didn't make it. I'm not going to make any excuses. Once in a while it still crosses my mind to go to an open tryout just to have fun for a weekend because I've done that before just to play. I wanted to play more than anything.

LR: So do you still got game?

CS: A little bit, a little bit.

LR: If you played (Gulf boys coach) Steve Feldman, who would win and by how much?

CS: Don't even ask me. No comment, no comment (laughing).

LR: Do you think you could take on some of the boys one-on-one?

CS: We've (Steel and Stratton) taken on most of the guys two-on-two, and we've beaten them. With the boys, they're bigger, and so it's hard to play boys, high school boys. It's hard to play boys one-on-one. Now give me two-on-two where I have a partner, where I can pass and cut, then I can beat people. But one-on-one would be difficult, especially with their height. I've done that in college. The men's coach would have me come down and play one of his recruits from high school, and I'd be a junior in college, and I would get beat just because they were taller,and they'd shoot over me.

LR: How tall are you?

CS: 5-8 and they're like 6-foot. So they would elevate and I couldn't even do anything.

LR: What was it like to play at one of the top NAIA programs in the country?

CS: It was fun. I have a lot of respect for NAIA. Everyone talks about going Division I, Division II NCAA. That's the cool thing to do. I went to this program, and we were very successful; we were very good. My freshman year, we had five freshmen in that year that turned out to work well together and played awesome together. We were actually rated first in the nation a couple of years, we just didn't win it (a national title). But we played NCAA Division II top-rated teams, and we've come close to beating them. I have a lot of respect. Everyone wants to go Division I, that's why it's nice to come to the high schools. They'll listen: NAIA's not that bad. I got to play a lot; I got to get better. You have more one-one-one with the coaches because they're more willing to help you. In NCAA, it's a different story.

LR: How did you end up coming here from Iowa?

CS: I had a good friend that I went to school with up at college, and he was originally from this area. He had mentioned to me that there was a high school position open. And I wasn't going to be an assistant coach at high school. After coaching at college for a couple years, I wanted to be a head coach at a high school to see what I could do. So he told me about this position and told the principal about me. Got a resume sent, talked on the phone, came down and interviewed and now I'm here.

LR: What does a single, young woman do for fun in New Port Richey?

CS: Hang out with other basketball coaches that are my age. My assistant is my age, there's like three assistants at East Lake that are my age. I talk to them a little bit. I don't hang out with them a whole lot but I talk to them a little bit. I have a church I go to, so I have friends there. I like to meet people; I put my hand out. I'm more of a laid-back person anyway.

LR: What kind of music do you listen to?

CS: I listen to a lot of Jackie Velasquez, a lot of Christian music. I have a hard time naming.

LR: What are your plans here at Gulf?

CS: I would love to stick around, and I plan on staying a few years, anyways. I don't like to come into a program and kind of be like we are, we're 4-15, I'm not willing to leave with that kind of record. I enjoy the students, I enjoy my players.

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