Alumni Coaching College Sports Share Their Inspiration, Influences and Memories

Andrews: I have a great dad. I had a great high school golf coach, Jimmy Cox. I had a great college golf coach. These three people really shaped how much I value doing your best at everything. While in high school, I was constantly pushed by my parents to do my best at sports and school and, more importantly, to act right. All that carried over through my high school golf coach. Not only was I pushed at home to constantly make good decisions, I was challenged to be the leader of the team at an early age. My interest in how a team works best grew when I got to college. I was a part of a Top 5, nationally ranked team for five years at Georgia Tech. I was not the most talented player by any means — and I don’t even know if I was the hardest worker — but I would do anything for anybody if it helped them get better. It’s super challenging to get elite-level talents to push down their egos and play for more than themselves, but my college coach was extremely good at it. Every day, I watched him constantly spread the message that what we were doing was bigger than us and that each member of the team was responsible for showing the young guys how things were done. That’s why you see so many dynasties in college sports. Great coaches convince even the most talented recruits that they have an obligation to hold young incoming talent to the team’s elite standards.

Billerman: The thing that influenced me into becoming a coach was my dad, [longtime Ravenscroft boys basketball coach Kevin Billerman]. Ever since I was a kid, I knew that whenever my time was done as a player I wanted to transition into the coaching world because I wanted to impact young people the same way my dad does every day at Ravenscroft.

Bradley: A lot of my experiences as an athlete directly impacted my coaching philosophy and journey. The core values instilled in me from all of my coaches and the camaraderie from my teammates is something that I cherish every day. I have a passion for developing young men and being a servant leader. This passion was passed on to me throughout my journey as a student-athlete.

Tanner: From my first airplane ride, a scholarship to the University of Richmond, overseas tours to play as a student-athlete in Europe, to playing basketball professionally in Israel and Greece — all have led me to becoming a coach. I am a firm believer that representation matters, and I want young girls and boys alike to see the many doors that can be opened with commitment and a little brown ball.

Woodson: My parents [father, Tracy Woodson, is the head baseball coach at the University of Richmond, and late mother, Maria Woodson, taught second grade at Ravenscroft] had a huge impact on my coaching path. I truly felt so comfortable in a teaching role, and it helped me learn both in sport and in the classroom. At Ravenscroft, tennis coach Debbie Peek did such a phenomenal job of mentoring me, and showing me what it truly means to be a coach that cares about the individual on and off the court, that I felt a strong urge to give back to the sport that gave me relationships, experiences and opportunities that I would have never had otherwise.

Andrews: The most important lesson I learned at Ravenscroft was the habit of hard work. In school or sports, if you did not put in the effort, you were going to fall behind. In my opinion, it is the most valuable lesson that you can learn. No matter what circumstance or environment you are in, hard work will always get you somewhere. It’s not guaranteed to get you to the top, but you will certainly land somewhere good.

Billerman: One thing I learned from my offensive coordinator/QB coach at Ravenscroft, Jim Gibbons, was the art of preparation. In high school, every day at lunch I would go watch film with Coach Gibbons in his office to get ready for our upcoming opponents, and it helped me on Friday nights to almost see things before they happened so I could play as fast as I could on the field. As I am now in the coaching world, that preparation hasn’t stopped for me, as every week we prepare to take on our upcoming opponents and expose their weaknesses or see their tendencies on Saturdays. Just like Coach Gibbons taught me preparation, I try to help pass that knowledge to our QBs at Duke.

Bradley: Ravenscroft prepared me in many ways for my college and professional career — specifically, building relationships with people from various walks of life. Ravenscroft taught me the importance of having meaningful relationships and to have a tremendous work ethic. Some of my closest friends in the world, I met during my time at Ravenscroft.

Tanner: One word has stuck with me since my very first practice with Coach Ned Gonet: lethargic. I had no idea what it meant when I first heard it, but I knew that whatever it meant signaled we were not going hard enough. Coach Gonet instilled in us hard work. At no point in time at practice or in a game were we to play or practice lazy; give it your all while you are out on the court. Through my college and professional playing days to my day-to-day work with my student athletes, I demand maximum effort from myself and my players.

Woodson: Coach Lynn Oehling — a phenomenal man that I miss dearly — taught me to run hard in “around-the-world” if I wanted any shot at winning some “hard candy.” But all jokes aside, Coach Peek taught me to treat others how they wanted to be treated. I was extremely competitive and very feisty, and she helped me channel that competitiveness in a respectful, positive and productive way.

Andrews: My favorite memory of being at Ravenscroft was our trips in the school minibus to tournaments and matches. As a team, we won a lot and had a lot of players go on to play at elite Power 5 colleges; however, I think more about all the stories, laughs and friendships that formed from those trips.

Billerman: One of my best memories from Ravenscroft is, first and foremost, getting the opportunity to play my sophomore basketball season with my brother, Sean ’10. He’s always been my role model, and he is also in the coaching world as he trains multiple NBA, overseas and college basketball players for Unforgiving Hoops. The second memory would have to be my senior year winning a state championship in basketball, because it was the culmination of all the hard work and preparation our team had put together for almost three years.

Bradley: As a two-sport athlete, I have plenty of fond memories from Ravenscroft. I enjoyed the competitive practices and working toward a common goal. There's nothing better than working with a group of guys that have a common goal and are willing to dedicate themselves to achieving it! Go Ravens!

Tanner: My favorite memory would be winning the NCISAA State Championship over Charlotte Providence Day by one point my senior year, 1998-99! I fouled out of that game and had to sit and watch my teammates bring it home!

Woodson: Honestly, I just appreciate, now more than ever, that my mom could come watch me play every match. She only saw me play once in college, so the chance for her to see me compete for Ravenscroft gave her so much joy, regardless of the result. I am so much more thankful for that now than I was then. As long as I did my best, she was happy. I learned so much from her and certainly would not be where I am today without her.