Marcus Stewart said he is a winner, and it’s all he wants to do.
In his third year at Sinclair Community College, he’s become coach Jeff Price’s “head assistant coach” and has seen plenty of success at the school. He said it’s what he’s used to.
Stewart saw plenty of success in his playing career, too.
Stewart played at Brown Mackie junior college and at Missouri Baptist University. He played on a national champion at Brown Mackie and was on ranked teams at each stop.
“I have a passion to win,” Stewart said.
Price has given Stewart what Stewart calls “full autonomy” during practices to critique players who are not showing proper effort or are making mistakes.
Price said that he trusts Stewart to “run the show” and that the players understand that Stewart has the same authority that Price does.
“He lets me coach,” Stewart said.
Stewart said their personalities are “ying and yang” at times. Price can be intense but often saves the lesson to the end. Stewart said Price likes to let the players figure things out on their own.
Stewart, though, would rather “give the players the lesson right then.”
“Coach Price has taught me to be patient at times,” Stewart said.
During games, Stewart tries to keep mental notes on the action. He keeps track of things like fouls, free throw percentage for everyone on the floor and anything else that he feels Price needs to make decisions.
“That’s really my job, to give suggestions,” Stewart said. “Coach Price told me when I started that the assistant coach gives suggestions and the head coach makes the decisions. I offer ideas for plays and kinds of things that might be able to help.”
Despite being happy as a subordinate to Price, Stewart said he’d like to be a head coach someday.
“Right now, I’m figuring out what kind of coach I want to be,” Stewart said. “Some guys stay as assistant with the same head coach for a while, and some leave. I don’t know yet.”
But, if Price has his way, Stewart will be finding a new job. A better job.
“He wants to find me a better job,” Stewart said. “He thinks I’m a D-1 guy. He introduces me to coaches and lets them know I can coach.”
Stewart said his dream job is to coach at Ohio State. They graduate their players and constantly recruit the top talent in the nation, according to Stewart.
But, most importantly, Ohio State wins.
“It’s a program that wins basketball games,” Stewart said. “I like being at winning programs.”