Suited for Success
12/13/2017 12:50:00 PM | Women's Basketball
How a substitute economics teacher and part-time limousine driver became MAC Coach of the Year
SUITED FOR SUCCESS
How a substitute economics teacher and part-time limousine driver became MAC Coach of the Year
By Ty Linder
All Todd Starkey ever wanted to do is wear a suit.
But not for the job you'd think.
Starkey never envisioned himself in a pinstriped Armani pacing the sidelines of some iconic arena or chasing a similarly-pinstriped official to the baseline. No, what the 46-year old Canfield, Ohio native and second-year Kent State head coach really wanted to do is dress to the nines for a day on Wall Street.
As an undergraduate at Mars Hill University in North Carolina, Starkey first enrolled as a business major. He wanted to be a stock broker, wear an expensive suit and live in a high rise.
"I realized pretty quick that business wasn't for me," he admits. "I transferred to Montreat (College) and was in psychology for a semester and finally settled on recreation administration. It was a combination of things I thought I might want to do."
Starkey's first break came when he was in his mid-20s.
"I got a call from (then) Coach Bill Robinson at Montreat. There was a men's basketball assistant coach job open and he offered it to me," he says.
The first coaching job Starkey had was far from glamorous. He was receiving a $3,000 stipend. But Montreat's lack of a recruiting budget meant much of that money was getting recycled.
"I ended up spending probably my entire stipend on travels for recruiting," he admits.
MORE THAN MOONLIGHTING
With a young family to support, Starkey's modest stipend wasn't enough, so he found a full-time job as Youth Director at a nearby church. For five years he coached men's basketball and worked summer camps.
Montreat's 1998-1999 season – the first with Starkey on the bench – was one to forget. But don't tell him that.
"That first year we were 7-26. And I loved every minute of it," he assures. "Now, I didn't like losing but I loved the coaching side of it."
Starkey's optimism paired with Robinson's leadership paid dividends the very next year. The Cavs finished 22-14 and advanced to their first NAIA National Tournament in school history.
In 2002 with funds still scarce, he went to work full time on the school's maintenance staff. This meant his days were often staring prior to 6 a.m., working the various jobs around campus, then heading to practice for a couple hours. He'd then jump in a car and drive three hours to hit the recruiting trail, only to get home at 1 a.m. and do it all over again the next day.
"I was changing out trash, plunging toilets and unstopping sewage lines," Starkey remembers.
As if that wasn't enough, he added yet another part-time job. He started driving limousines for Airport Ground Transportation at the Asheville Regional Airport.
"I also drove limos for weddings," he added. "So about four jobs that year. It was unbelievable."
The next year, Starkey needed a change.
"I just knew I wanted to get to the NCAA level. I had an opportunity as a volunteer assistant on the men's basketball team at Lenoir-Rhyne," he says.
The key word? Volunteer.
Starkey's next full-time job came in Hickory, N.C. as a substitute teacher at the local high school. He worked every day, earning a long-term assignment when an honors economics teacher went on maternity leave.
"Every kid in the class was smarter than me. I was literally 24 hours ahead of them in their knowledge of economics," he remembers.
By the time 2004-2005 arrived, Starkey was full-time subbing, working as a part-time assistant men's basketball coach and also responsible for starting Lenoir-Rhyne's women's tennis program. This was year seven of his coaching career.
And a break was coming.
"I WANT THE JOB"
When the head women's coach at Lenoir-Rhyne left for Old Dominion, the athletic director approached Starkey about being the interim head coach during the search process.
"I said yeah, but I want the job," he said. "I'd never thought about coaching women's basketball. I was spinning my wheels on the men's side. During the search I basically just treated (the program) like it was my own."
In August 2005, Starkey was the interim head coach for women's basketball, assistant men's basketball coach and head women's tennis coach. And still recruiting for all three sports. At the end of the month, his boss offered to remove the interim tag.
Three seasons later, Starkey had shed his other two coaching duties and the ability to focus solely on his women's program led to a historic campaign for the Bears – a 27-5 record and the #1 seed in the Southeast region. And for Starkey, the NCAA DII National Coach of the Year honors.
After nine successful seasons in Hickory, he left for Bloomington, Ind. For an assistants' job with the Indiana Hoosiers women's basketball program.
FINDING THE FLASHES
In 2002 while as an assistant men's coach at Montreat, Starkey scored tickets to the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball tournament games at the Bi-Lo Center in Greenville, S.C. There, he watched the early game featuring legendary Oklahoma State coach Eddie Sutton. The Cowboys' opponent? 10th-seeded Kent State.
"I fell in love with Trevor Huffman's game. He had an unbelievable tournament and I remember thinking, 'man this dude can play'," Starkey recalls. "I became a Kent State fan watching that team play. Never in a million years did I think I'd be a coach for them."
That same March, Kent State's women's team was also in the NCAA Tournament at Kansas State. And 14 years later that women's program needed a new leader.
THE TURNAROUND
Kent State finished 6-23 in 2015-2016 and a new direction was needed. After several names bounced around without a hire, Starkey made a phone call to the hiring committee.
He had phone interviews with AD Joel Nielsen and Deputy AD Casey Cegles before coming to campus. This was a Thursday. The next day, he pointed his rental south on I-71 and received a call from Nielsen.
"He called and offered me the position and I accepted. I packed and was back up in Kent Monday afternoon. We had the press conference on Wednesday and first thing Thursday morning I was on a plane recruiting," Starkey says.
What if someone would have told him at that press conference he would win 19 games, contend for a league title, win conference coach of the year and qualify for the post-season in year one?
"Not a chance," he quickly says, pausing as if to grasp the gravity of it. "Not a chance. I watched film. I analyzed. It looked broken. I thought it would take a few years."
"I'VE NEVER SEEN ANYTHING LIKE THAT BEFORE"
In 2015-2016, Larissa Lurken averaged 14 points per game and attempted 126 free throws for a KSU squad which struggled in all aspects. Then a junior, she was already running a near-impossible schedule. A nursing major, Lurken routinely missed practice time due to clinicals.
"I told her all good scorers get to the free throw line," Starkey says. "You can't just sit in the corners and shoot threes. You have to be able to score with the clock stopped. She just believed me."
In that first season under Starkey, Lurken went from taking 126 free throws to 333. She made 280 – a new national record. And she averaged 24 points per game.
"I've never seen a turnaround from one season to the next like I saw in Larissa Lurken. Never seen anything like that before," he says, seemingly still in awe. "We would walk in and she would have this feeling like she was the best player in the gym."
With Lurken anchored in, everyone else fell perfectly into place. Jordan Korinek hit her stride once MAC started and then found another gear in the second half of conference play. Alexa Golden and Chelsi Watson both started playing with confidence and the Golden Flashes took off.
"It was as fun a season as I've ever been a part of," he says.
DREAM JOB
Summer after summer, a younger Starkey worked the men's basketball camps at Duke and coach Mike Krzyzewski. And to this day he recalls a simple message the iconic coach had.
"He said, treat every job like it's your Duke," Starkey remembers. "This is your job. Be a good steward of what you have while you have it."
"I'm in my dream job here," he says. "I love it here, even more than I thought I would. And I thought I was going to like it a lot."
And he gets to wear a suit.
