The men's basketball team at Andrews University has an entirely new coaching staff this year. Jared Rusher, the team’s new head coach and assistant athletic director for the university, shared his goals for the upcoming season, his background, and his love for basketball with The Student Movement.
Rusher was born and raised a Seventh-day Adventist in Buchanan, Michigan, which is not far from Andrews. When he was about 7 years old, his dad, Scott Rusher, became the first basketball coach at Andrews to expand the program to play other schools. Until then, the team had only played against Oakwood University—his father, however, had the team play games against other schools.
As a kid, Rusher looked up to his father greatly and was inspired to follow in his footsteps. “Every little boy, their dad is their idol,” Rusher says, “And your dad being a college coach is the coolest thing ever.” He would draw up plays and keep stats on games from an early age; he knew that coaching was something he wanted to do.
Rusher has always had a love for basketball. He played on different teams before joining the Andrews Cardinals in 2009, which was the first year the team received a championship banner. He played on the team for one year.
Rusher appreciated the diversity at Andrews. He felt like “a kid at a candy shop” and built a lot of great relationships in his time here.
After his time at the university, he spent 15 years coaching in his hometown and in places near Andrews, such as Southwestern Michigan College (SMC). He maintained a close relationship with Andrews and stayed up to date on how the basketball teams were performing. After hearing about a coaching position opening, he applied and is back on campus for a third time.
Rusher has recruited a number of basketball players to the Cardinals this year despite the fact that Andrews does not not offer a sports scholarship. He says that “having a good relationship with a lot of the guys” played a large part in getting them on the team. He brought some players from SMC and recruited some from Andrews Academy.
Rusher let the recruits know that “they might not have a scholarship, but they are going to accomplish all of the goals that they have with basketball, in terms of wanting to win and wanting to build a program and be a part of something special.”
Rusher believes that all the recruits will be a large part of the team’s success this year and appreciates their talent.
“Everything starts with culture,” he says, which can have a positive or negative impact depending on the environment a person is in.
“Implementing a brand new culture with a level of discipline, work ethic, and accountability,” he says, is a good start.
It is also important to him to build that new culture around spirituality. The team does devotionals directly from the Gospels before their practices in order to “get a perfect example from Christ himself.” Whenever the team struggles or gains success, they will look for what Christ would do in their situation and act accordingly.
“Once the culture is right,” Rusher says, “the winning comes behind it.”
Rusher believes the alumni game this past Homecoming weekend, which the alumni team won 69-53, served as a marker for the team to get better. The team reviewed the game’s footage and talked about how “this is where [they] are, where [they] want to be, and the space [they] have to fill.”
Rusher is excited for the upcoming season and encourages people to come out and get excited. He likes to coach a brand of basketball that is high energy, high intensity, and high impact.
“Whether we’re winning or losing (hopefully, there is more winning than losing),” he says, “we’re going to put on a good show every night.”
Rusher urges students to come out and support and also get to know the players and coaches.
“Build relationships!” he says.
Visit the Andrews University Cardinals page to learn more about the team and their schedule for this season.
The Student Movement is the official student newspaper of Andrews University. Opinions expressed in the Student Movement are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors, Andrews University or the Seventh-day Adventist church.