Last Chance U’s Coach John Mosley: Rules Without Relationship Equals Rebellion
Matty Kerr is co-creator with John Brancaccio of The Working Experience. He is also a filmmaker and published author. Listen to our podcast on iTunes and Spotify and visit our website: theworkingexperience.com for videos, merchandise and more. You can also find us on Facebook, Linked In, Instagram, and Twitter.
Coach John Mosely is the head coach of the East Los Angeles College Huskies and was named one of the 50 Most Impactful Coaches in the JUCO League. He was featured in the Netflix series Last Chance U and was gracious enough to be a guest on The Working Experience Podcast.
Coach Mosely grew up in Southern California, South Central Los Angeles. He says he was very fortunate to have grown up in a stable family, something that is not a reality for many of his players. However, he was surrounded by a neighborhood with temptations. It was a rough area but having someone at home who facilitates positive activities is vital. A child might want to do the right things but if no one is at home to help with that, it is difficult for the child to stay on the right path.
From high school, Coach Mosely went to East Los Angeles Community College to play basketball. He was being recruited by some Division 1 schools but did not, as he says, “Do what I was supposed to do academically. So he ended up a N.A.I, a Christian school in Texas.
As it turns out, this is right where he was supposed to be.
“I share with lots of people that I think it was by design because it helped me with my Christian values and created a level of accountability. It kind of changed my heart for what I do now.”
Coach Mosely worked at Cal State Bakersfield (Division 1 school) He earned his Master Degrees in Education and Kinesiology and came back to teach and coach at East Los Angeles Community College.
It’s a full load. He teaches spin classes and lectures and then go and lead the basketball practices at night. He has to deal with the kids and their issues and problems. It is hard to image having the energy to do all that but, for Coach Mosley, it’s hard to imagine not doing it.
“The passion and drive to care about others, man, I think it calls these kids to be successful. The chip on my shoulder from saying there is no way I am losing my energy from the spin classes to that court gives me that energy to say, ‘I’m gonna try and kill it here’.
“Head coaches don’t have bad days.”
No secret is made that the kids who come to the ELACC program are looking at it as a stepping stone. And Coach Mosely is totally on board. He wants to help these kids get into that college.
“Most of the young men that play basketball here, their goal is to get a scholarship out of the community college to go play at a four year university. And I tell them, ‘The four year experience is the plan’. That is the carrot that we dangle and say, ‘Hey, if that is what you want, this is what you have to do. You got to come and put in the work.’”
Coach Mosely wants them to get the education and use their athletic ability to get a four year degree for free. Most of the young men who come to ELACC are not interested in the educational program beyond remaining eligible to play basketball. Almost all of these kids have dreams of playing in the NBA. But that is like planning to win the lottery. A person can easily get injured, blow out a knee, and that is it, career over. No one can take away a degree.
He wants them to focus on today.
“Every kid wants to be an NBA player. We don’t even focus on that. Today is a challenge in itself. Can you show up every single day and perform every single day at a high level? We don’t have time to talk about the NBA. Can you meet the expectation that we require, let alone the NBA?”
But the adults need to understand where these kids are coming from in order to help them.
Though he doesn’t use the term, Coach Mosely is also trying to teach these kids Emotional Intelligence. He talks about winning with your emotions, learning how to respond the right way as a male and not only that but in some cases as a minority male. These kids are intelligent and they understand intellectually what they need to do. But having the tools to do it is another matter. There are factors that need to be taken into consideration. One player, an NBA prospect, kept storming off the court when he didn’t like the way the refs were calling the game. If the coaches criticized him, he would leave practice, show up late for the next one or not show up at all. He knew what was at stake; he had all the talent but no team was going to take him if he kept acting that way. So why not just cut the crap?
“A lot of times these young men have not learned how to respond to adversity or respond to criticism. He wants to play. So I try to figure out what is really going on. Because he wants to play ball. As you said, intellectually, he gets it. But there is something that is preventing him from responding in a healthy way. Why is he responding that way? There’s a reason. He wants to be successful; he loves the game of basketball. So you got to go back and take a look and do some research. A lot of times we stereotype and write them off before we know what is going on.”
He needs to dig into their lives and find out they are acting out. If he does not do that, if he does not build that trust and that relationship, it won’t work; he will not get the best out of them.
“Rules without relationship equals rebellion.”
“They are going to rebel if you don’t know what’s really going on in their lives and so I challenge myself to dig in and see what’s going on. And then you find out that there’s abuse in the past. Someone might say, ‘Well, he’s got to take responsibility for himself!’ Well, have you really dealt with abuse? With abandonment?”
It’s about putting behavior into context. If you know what a lot of these young men have dealt with or are dealing with, their negative behavior isn’t a mystery.
“It has nothing to do with basketball, it had nothing to do with me, it had nothing to do with discipline; it was what was going on at home.”
Take the time and have the compassion to figure out what the problem is and do what you can to help.
