D. None of the Above: SB Basketball Coach Langford reflects on new league, second year
By Daniel Dunaief
Parents, coaches and teachers offer words of wisdom, guidance and advice.
At the same time, however, they also have opportunities to learn, particularly after the end of one year and the start of another.
And so it is for Stony Brook University women’s basketball coach Ashley Langford.
A year after she took her first head coaching job at Stony Brook, Langford took stock of her experience, while contemplating the next steps.
“I’m still high energy and enthusiastic,” Langford said at 3 p.m. .on the first day of school from her car as she headed to a late lunch. “I’m still excited to be head coach.”
A self-described “high achiever” who “wants to be the best,” Langford acknowledges that she may be an over achiever as well.
“Even when I reach my goal, for me, you’re supposed to,” she said. “There were times [last year] when we would win and I wouldn’t be happy. I want us to be our best.”
Langford, however, recognizes that emphasizing ways to improve, even after winning a game, was not ideal for her players.
“They are 18- to 23-year-olds,” she said. “They need to enjoy that win, regardless of how it looked. They need to be praised right in the moment.”
That doesn’t mean teaching and improving ends after a win. The next day, she said she felt more comfortable talking about how to avoid the possibility of letting a game slip away.
In her second year, Langford hopes she, her coaches and the team become more visible to the community, particularly because the team plays a “fun brand of basketball.”
Her debut season involved ongoing restrictions related to the pandemic, preventing her from connecting with the community.
“I need to be more visible,” Langford said. “It’s important that Long Island knows who we are.”
She is eager to go into schools and engage with members of the community.
“Community service is a huge piece of that,” Langford said. “It’s us going to schools and reading” or interacting in other ways with residents.
This summer, the basketball program ran an elite camp for players who were not at a recruitable age. Participants in the camp can come back to games for free, which, Langford hopes, can encourage other spectators to join them.
“Maybe they’ll bring a friend or two,” she said.
The Seawolves coach is excited for the opportunity to compete in the Colonial Athletic Conference. After participating in the America East conference since 2001, the Stony Brook Athletic Department decided to move to the CAA starting this season.
Langford will rely on some of her knowledge of her competition. Prior to arriving at SBU, Langford spent four years at James Madison University, which is a member of the CAA.
“I know the DNA of certain teams,” Langford said. She recognizes, however, that teams change, which means that the Seawolves have to be “ready to pivot.”
As she prepares the team, which includes four transfer students, for the upcoming season, she believes Stony Brook will be competitive in a demanding conference.
“We’re not in a league where you can have an off night and think you’re gong to win,” she said. “We’ve got to be ready to give our best.”
Thoughts from a former player and her father
Former fifth-year player India Pagan, who is preparing to play professional basketball in Germany this winter (see story in Arts and Lifestyles), remains connected to her former team.
“I’m really proud that we made it to another league,” she said. “We have to elevate our level, our intensity. I say, ‘We,’ like I’m still on the team.” Pagan said she still feels committed to a team she helped lead to consecutive conference championships.
Thinking back to the beginning of his daughter’s college basketball experience, India’s father Moises Pagan cited Stony Brook’s eagerness to recruit her.
“The fact that they put this powerpoint together, it blew us away,” Pagan said. “We walked away saying, ‘Stony Brook really wants our daughter.’”
