Episode 392: Leaning on Others

John Wild and the Relationships Behind a Championship Coaching Life

By Coach Kevin Furtado​
​Championship Vision Basketball Podcast

There are coaches who spend their careers collecting plays.

There are coaches who collect championships.

And then there are coaches who collect people.

After my conversation with Coach John Wild for Episode 392 of the Championship Vision Basketball Podcast, I came away believing that one of the secrets to his remarkable longevity and success has very little to do with a particular offense, defense, press, or practice drill.

It is his willingness to lean on others.

That became the theme of this episode because John's coaching journey is filled with relationships—coaches who influenced him, friends who challenged him, players who trusted him, communities that embraced basketball, and colleagues from whom he continued to learn.

For coaches, there is an important lesson buried inside his story:

You don't have to build your coaching journey alone.

A Georgia Beginning

Long before John Wild became associated with Tennessee high school basketball, his basketball foundation was being built in Georgia.

Wild grew up in the Lilburn area and played at Greater Atlanta Christian, where his name still appears prominently in the school's basketball record book. GAC lists Wild with 662 career points from 1980–84, a reminder that before he became known as Coach Wild, he was a player learning the game himself. (Greater Atlanta Christian School)

Those early basketball years helped introduce him to something that would follow him throughout his career—the power of being around good basketball people.

Names such as Jackie Bradford, Alan Malone, John Adair, Gene Durden and Bob Reinhardt aren't simply names from the past. They represent relationships, conversations and basketball experiences that helped shape how Wild would eventually see coaching.

That is one of the things I have learned during my own career.

We are all products of the people who poured into us.

Sometimes we don't even realize their impact until years later.

A phrase from a coach.

A practice you watched.

A conversation after a game.

A coach who took your phone call when you needed advice.

Eventually those small moments become part of your own coaching DNA.

The Journey Takes Him to Tennessee

Wild eventually attended David Lipscomb University, graduating in 1990 after playing on two NAIA No. 1-ranked teams and later serving as a graduate assistant. (CoachT.com)

And from there, his coaching journey began to take shape.

What followed became one of the more interesting careers in Tennessee high school basketball.

Wild coached boys.

He coached girls.

He coached different classifications.

He coached powerhouse programs.

He coached at the high school level and eventually in college.

Most importantly, he kept learning.

That willingness to move, grow and accept new challenges is something that stood out to me during our conversation.

Some coaches spend their careers searching for comfort.

Others keep searching for growth.

John Wild has never seemed afraid of the next basketball adventure.

Doing Something Almost Nobody Had Done

In 1999, Wild led Moore County High School to the TSSAA Class A boys state championship.

It wasn't simply a great team having a predictable season.

Moore County entered the postseason after finishing runner-up in its district tournament and third in the region before catching fire. The Raiders ultimately finished 34-4, setting a school record for victories while winning the program's first state championship. (Tennessee General Assembly)

Then Wild did something extraordinary.

One year later, he guided Bradford's girls to a state championship.

Back-to-back championships.

Two different schools.

Boys one year.

Girls the next.

When Lawrence County hired Wild in 2001, the school noted that the accomplishment made him the only coach in TSSAA history at that time to accomplish that feat. (CoachT.com)

Think about the adaptability required to do that.

Different players.

Different communities.

Different programs.

Different genders.

Different expectations.

Same ability to connect and coach.

That tells me something important about Wild's success.

His system was never bigger than his players.

Learning to Adapt

That may be one of the biggest lessons coaches can take from Episode 392.

Young coaches sometimes believe they have to establish their "system."

Their offense.

Their defense.

Their terminology.

Their way.

But coaching long enough teaches you something different.

Players change.

Basketball changes.

Schools change.

Communities change.

Your staff changes.

And sometimes you have to change.

The coaches who survive aren't necessarily the coaches with the biggest playbook.

They're often the coaches willing to listen.

Wild's career demonstrates that adaptability.

Riverdale and Another Championship

Eventually Wild's journey took him to one of the most recognizable girls basketball programs in Tennessee—Riverdale.

He initially joined the program as an assistant before becoming the head coach. In his first season running the program, Riverdale finished as the state runner-up.

The following season?

State champions.

Lipscomb University later noted that Wild led Riverdale to the 2012 Class AAA state championship before leaving the high school ranks to become an assistant with the Lady Bisons. (Lipscomb University)

That championship added another layer to an already unusual résumé.

Wild had now won state championships in multiple environments and classifications—and with both boys and girls programs.

But when you listen to him talk about basketball, the conversation isn't simply about trophies.

It is about people.

That's what makes his story valuable.

Leaning on Others

There is a misconception in coaching that leadership means having every answer.

I believed that more when I was younger.

The longer I coach, the less I believe it.

Great leadership isn't knowing everything.

Great leadership is knowing who you can learn from.

That is what "Leaning on Others" means to me.

It means calling another coach.

It means visiting someone's practice.

It means asking why.

It means admitting somebody else may have a better way.

It means having mentors.

It means maintaining relationships.

And sometimes it means sitting down with another coach and simply listening.

John Wild's journey reinforces something I've come to appreciate more and more:

Your coaching network can become one of your greatest coaching resources.

Why Tennessee Girls Basketball Fascinates Me

Our conversation also brought me back to something I have always found fascinating about Tennessee basketball—particularly girls basketball.

There are places where basketball is an activity.

There are other places where basketball becomes part of the identity of a community.

Tennessee has many of those places.

Small towns.

Packed gyms.

Generations of families sitting in the same bleachers.

Grandparents who remember teams from 30 years ago.

Young girls growing up knowing the names of the high school players.

Basketball isn't simply something happening at the school.

The school team belongs to the community.

That's different.

And I understand the attraction because I once went searching for something similar myself.

My Own Search for the "Hoosier Experience"

My coaching journey once led me to Union County High School in Morganfield, Kentucky.

Part of what attracted me there was my desire to experience what I called the Hoosier experience—coaching somewhere basketball wasn't simply a sport but a way of life.

I wanted to experience communities where Friday night's basketball game mattered.

Where people talked about the team at the grocery store.

Where young kids dreamed about eventually wearing the high school uniform.

Where the gym was one of the centers of the community.

That's part of what intrigues me about Tennessee girls basketball.

And John's career has placed him inside many of those environments.

Moore County.

Bradford.

Lawrence County.

Riverdale.

And now Forrest.

Different communities.

Same passion for basketball.

Coming Home to Forrest

There is something fitting about where the journey has taken Wild today.

In 2024, Wild accepted the girls basketball job at Forrest High School in Chapel Hill.

This wasn't simply another coaching move.

Chapel Hill had been home for years.

Wild explained when he accepted the position that his children had attended school there, his grandchildren would attend there, and his wife was born and raised in the community. Coaching Forrest had been something he had thought about for years until the timing finally became right. (The Marshall County Post)

Today, TSSAA lists Wild as Forrest's head girls basketball coach. (TSSAA Portal)

There's something almost poetic about that.

After decades of traveling Tennessee basketball roads, the journey brings him home.

Maybe that's how coaching careers are supposed to work.

We spend years chasing the next game, next season, next opportunity and next challenge.

Eventually, we begin thinking less about where we're going and more about the people who helped us get there.

Relationships Outlast the Scoreboard

Wins matter.

Championships matter.

Anyone who has coached competitively knows that.

But eventually the trophies collect dust.

The newspaper clippings fade.

The banners hang so long that the players who won them become parents and grandparents.

What remains are relationships.

Former players.

Assistant coaches.

Opposing coaches.

Mentors.

Friends.

People who answered the phone when things weren't going well.

People who challenged your thinking.

People who told you something you didn't necessarily want to hear.

People who believed in you.

That may ultimately be the biggest lesson from John Wild's career.

Great coaches aren't afraid to lean on other people.

The Coaching Tree Matters

I have become increasingly fascinated by coaching trees.

Who influenced whom?

Who played for whom?

Who worked on whose staff?

Who picked up a philosophy from one coach and passed it to another?

Basketball knowledge doesn't travel in a straight line.

It moves through relationships.

A coach learns something in Georgia.

Takes it to Tennessee.

Shares it with an assistant.

That assistant becomes a head coach.

A player becomes a coach.

Twenty years later, something that started in one gym is being taught in another gym hundreds of miles away.

That's how our game grows.

And that is why we should never underestimate the value of sharing.

Don't Become an Island

One of the dangers for veteran coaches is isolation.

We have coached long enough that people assume we already know.

Sometimes we start believing we already know.

That's when growth stops.

I don't care whether you have coached three years or thirty-five years.

There is somebody you can learn from.

Call the young coach running an offense you've never seen.

Talk to the veteran who has survived six different administrations.

Visit the coach whose players compete harder than yours.

Ask the coach who just rebuilt a struggling program how they changed the culture.

Watch practice.

Ask questions.

Share ideas.

Lean on others.

Because coaching is too difficult to do alone.

My Biggest Takeaway from Episode 392

I've interviewed hundreds of coaches through the Championship Vision Basketball Podcast, and one common thread continues to appear.

The great ones are curious.

They don't pretend to know everything.

They keep people around them.

They ask questions.

They evolve.

And they remember the people who helped them.

John Wild's career includes state championships, major programs and decades of coaching experience. He has been recognized as one of Tennessee's most successful basketball coaches, including being identified as one of the small group of coaches to win Tennessee state championships in both the boys and girls game. (Apple Podcasts)

But Episode 392 isn't really an episode about numbers.

It's about the journey behind them.

It's about Georgia roots.

Tennessee basketball.

Small communities.

Mentors.

Friendships.

Players.

Adaptability.

And continuing to learn.

Most of all, it's about understanding that none of us gets where we're going by ourselves.

Championship Vision

Maybe that is the real championship vision.

Not proving how much you know.

But recognizing how much there is still to learn.

Not building walls around your program.

But building relationships around it.

Not worrying about who gets the credit.

But appreciating the people who helped you along the way.

Coach John Wild's journey reminds us that our greatest resource might not be another play, another drill or another coaching clinic.

It might simply be another person.

Someone willing to share.

Someone willing to listen.

Someone willing to challenge us.

Someone willing to help.

And after all these years in coaching, I've come to believe something very strongly:

The longer you coach, the more you realize that leaning on others isn't a weakness.

It's one of the greatest strengths a coach can have.

Episode 392 — Leaning on Others with Coach John Wild

Listen to the complete conversation on the Championship Vision Basketball Podcast as Coach John Wild and Coach Kevin Furtado discuss basketball, relationships, mentors, Tennessee hoops, the coaches who shaped their journeys, and the lessons learned from a lifetime in the game.

Championship Vision Basketball​
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Episode 392: "Leaning on Oth... Aug 19 · Championship Vision Bask... 96:51   ​

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Thanks,

Coach Kevin Furtado