Black History Month Q&A - Travis DeCuire – Montana Men's Basketball
OGDEN, Utah (February 12, 2018) - Travis DeCuire has been able to accomplish what so many others could only dream about. Not only is he coaching at his alma mater, but he’s having a successful stint doing it as he’s currently in his fourth season at the helm of the University of Montana program. DeCuire accomplished something no other coach in UM history had - he posted two 20-win seasons in his first-two seasons. With a sweep this past weekend, DeCuire and the Griz struck the 20-win mark for the third time in four years. DeCuire has led his squad to a Big Sky regular season championship in his first season, and a pair of postseason appearances in the National Invitational Tournament (NIT) and College Basketball Invitational. The Griz currently sit in first place in the Big Sky standings with a perfect 13-0 mark guided by a Big Sky alum, who was an all-conference honoree during his playing days.
Why was it important to you to make the Fastbreak Basketball Association?
“For me it just kind of came together through life experiences. My father started something very similar when I was growing up as a way to raise money to take a team of me and some friends to travel and get exposure, and it was always an experience I remembered once I got into coaching. I fell into coaching after working a few odd jobs. I worked at a summer camp with my high school coach. He ended up having an open coaching spot and offered it to me, so I took the freshman coaching position. Into that position I decided I then wanted to get into some summer stuff and start a program. It was important for me to do it the right way. I think a lot of people have programs or AAU teams for a source of income or other agendas, but for me it was more about an opportunity for me to be a positive influence on young minorities from the inner city.”
One of the traits of the organization is building self-esteem, why is it crucial to help build that at an early age?
“I think for anyone to have success they need a break and that’s how I came up with the name Fastbreak. Young student-athletes that I was working with, boys and girls, most of them needed a fastbreak. So, you have to believe that you can be successful. When you come from a background of struggle, the thing you’re usually missing is self-esteem. That needs to be built while progressing towards being successful in anything you do in life.”
When you found out that you were the first African-American head coach in Montana history, what were your initial thoughts?
“Well, I knew it going through the interview process, but it wasn’t a big deal to me. It was brought up again shortly after my hiring and to me what made it special was not necessarily being the first, but for me it was important because I had been given the opportunity to be the head coach of a program that had a history of success. What’s important for someone in my situation is to be successful and do the job the right way in order to create a similar opportunity for someone like myself down the road. The more often minority coaches are successful, the more often those behind us will get those same opportunities.”
What life lessons do you try to instill in your student-athletes?
“Compete through adversity. You have to be willing to compete with yourself, opponents, and life in general. When we talk about academics, we talk about competing in the classroom. Fight for the best grades you can get. Compete with the other students in your class. I think it’s so easy for anyone to get by. To go to class, do enough work, get a C, pass the class and move on to the next one. When you get comfortable doing that, that’s how you end up defining yourself, as someone who just gets by. Not many people will remember or talk about the people who just got by. That’s not what makes us special. What makes us special is our ability to compete. Especially through adverse situations. For me, the most important thing for my student-athletes is to compete in the classroom, compete in the community and it will carry over onto the court if that’s who they are for 24 hours out of the day.”
What does coaching at your alma mater mean to you?
“Everything. I couldn’t ask for a better opportunity. Any time you get a chance to return to the place you played, you have a unique feel for what it’s about. What it means to the community, administration, students, and it’s a little easier to get up in the morning to do the things necessary to make it a positive experience for everyone. When I got here I knew how important it was to the community and administration to be successful. I also feel that I have a decent understanding of what makes the University of Montana special. An opportunity to continue the tradition is something that I look forward to. The other piece is that it’s not often that someone in my situation gets the opportunity to take over a program that has had success. Usually you’re in a building situation and you’re trying to create success. I believe that when I got here I was surrounded by a supporting cast that gets it and had experienced it before which makes the transition a lot smoother for me.”