Sometimes it’s best to step back, take a break and get a different perspective in order to move forward, a needed time to inhale so to speak. This is exactly what Chantel Osahor has done after completing her first season as Gonzaga WBB assistant coach.
Once named to the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association’s 30 Under 30 Class in 2023, Osahor is considered as one of the nation’s youngest coaching stars. However, after successful stops at Drake, Arkansas and Oklahoma, Osahor soon found herself on a fast track — perhaps a bit too fast for her liking, she explained during a recent MSR phone interview.
“Basketball was all I did, and it became pretty stressful for me,” recalled Osahor. “I did not do a good job of finding a way to balance work and finding other things to do. So, I took a year [off] just to take a breath.”
Osahor was an All-American player at Washington, one of just two players in school history to post at least 1,000 points and 1,000 rebounds in her career. Her senior season she led the nation with 15.3 rebounds a game and 30 double-doubles.
“I never wanted to be a coach,” admitted Osahor, who was drafted 21st overall by Chicago in the 2017 WNBA Draft, but put in time overseas, including playing 3-on-3. “I was one of the first to do that up there [playing 3-on-3], which was really, really fun. Really enjoyed it, but after doing it, I knew I really wanted to start coaching.
“I was very, very fortunate to have some amazing coaches throughout my career,” she continued. “All of them have been great mentors to me, but they just really impacted my life. The way they impacted me, it made me want to get into the business and be able to impact [others].”
Admittedly, Osahor found making the transition from playing to coaching was at first hard. “My first year was really hard because it was my very first job being a GA [grad assistant], and so just navigating what it was like to be a coach made me miss playing basketball. It was a real struggle for me.”
She didn’t realize just how involved coaching is, Osahor said. “I think when you are a student-athlete, you just don’t know what coaches go through and how much work they have to do. You only see them for a couple of hours in practice, and you don’t realize they’ve been there for hours before, and hours well after.”
But after getting comfortable in her new career, Osahor got better and better at it. Gonzaga Coach Lisa Fortier told the MSR after the Zags played at Minnesota in the WBIT this season that hiring Osahor was right. “We were so lucky to add Chantel,” said the HC.
“When I was sick for a month,” said Fortier, a cancer survivor, “she was my voice because she’s got that loud, moving voice. She makes us rebound—she’s watching our rebounding and every day she’s watching film with players. She’s been great for us.”
Osahor wants to help dispel the notion that Black coaches can only recruit. “I do think that’s a really bad stigma and stereotype that’s been on Black people, specifically Black women,” she stressed.
“I think I do a good job in that area [of recruiting], but I am pretty, pretty good at seeing the game and knowing the game. And on the X’s and O’s part, I would definitely say that is the strongest thing for me.”
Fortier agrees: “She thinks about the game in different ways.”
“I would say that I’ve always been fortunate to have really good knowledge of the game,” said Osahor. “I see things a lot differently than other people do, and I think from an authentic side of the game.”
Charles Hallman welcomes reader comments to challman@spokesman-recorder.com.