Former Maryland basketball graduate assistant John Auslander is used to watching Maryland coach Mark Turgeon run practices, conduct film sessions and draw up plays. Auslander specialized in scouting with the Terps, but he aspires to be a college head coach. He knew he needed some type of experience in the field to reach his dream.
So Auslander became a head coach for teams in The Basketball Tournament, an annual national 5-on-5 tournament that began July 9, in which the winning team earns $2 million. Auslander managed D.C.’s Finest the past two seasons, and he’s assisting former Terps special assistant Juan Dixon with Team Maryland this year.
After leaving Maryland this spring, Auslander isn’t certain what he’ll do next in his coaching career. But he’s already gained valuable experience from coaching in The Basketball Tournament, where he holds the same duties Turgeon does with the Terps.
“Every time you coach, you get better,” Auslander said. “There’s some stuff you can only learn from doing it. It’s like a lawyer learning more on their first case than at law school. It’s a way for us to see if certain things we believe in work or if they don’t.”
The past two seasons, Dixon assisted Auslander’s teams in The Basketball Tournament. But since Auslander is seeking jobs, Dixon took the head coaching duties this summer.
Team Maryland general manager Muhammad Smith and assistant coach Tony Durant put together a roster of former-NBA players, athletes playing overseas and former college players, most of whom are from the state of Maryland.
Smith asked Dixon, his longtime friend, to coach his team, and Dixon brought Auslander with him.
“Those guys coach and show detail so you get it,” Smith said. “Those guys bring the experience to the team and the structure to the team.”
There are 64 teams in the tournament from different regions of the U.S. Each team has about a dozen players with different basketball backgrounds. Former Terps D.J. Strawberry and James Gist, who play in the Greek Basketball League, are participating in the tournament. Former Maryland forward Evan Smotrycz played last summer.
Coaching professional athletes, most of whom are older than Auslander, is part of his challenge.
“You got some teams that come in that have really been practicing together and really have offensive plays,” Smith said. “You got some teams come in who think they’re just playing pick-up. You’re competing for two million dollars. Everyone knows what’s at stake.”
The past two seasons, Auslander had to leave the Terps for a few weekends to coach D.C.’s Finest. Turgeon was fine with Auslander’s other obligation, knowing he needed head coaching experience to become one in the future.
Auslander also helped with the Washington Wizards’ pre-draft workouts this summer, and he’s looking into other coaching jobs while spending time in the Boston-area.
But first, Auslander hopes to coach Team Maryland to the championship.
“It’s a fun environment,” Auslander said. “Juan and I enjoy coaching. We enjoy game-planning and preparing people. There’s an opportunity to do that. That’s what makes it fun. If you want to be a good coach, you got to coach.”
