New journey: Patterson determined to make most of head coaching opportunity

There's a simple black journal that Rekha Patterson carries around with her that makes its home on her nightstand at the end of most days.

Patterson, a self-proclaimed open book, always contemplated keeping track of her life through journaling but never did so consistently -- "you get busy with life and you forget to do it," she said.

Except now, when her life probably is at its busiest as she embarks on her journey as the head coach of the Southeast Missouri State women's basketball team, the 34-year-old is determined to document as much as possible.

She got the idea from a mentor, who is an administrator at a different university.

"He said, 'Rekha, I think you should journal this year so you can reflect and look back. You won't remember everything, but the journal will allow you to remember some of the good and bad and your journey this first year,'" Patterson said.

This new journey has been in the making since she was a child, and this season is just the next step toward Patterson fulfilling her vision of being a successful coach, both on and off the court.

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Those around Patterson were quick to notice that coaching was in her future, even though she didn't realize it until late in her college basketball career.

Her mom, Eva Patterson-Heath, coached high school basketball for 24 years at Red Springs High School in North Carolina and now is the women's basketball coach at Fayetteville State University.

She could see her daughter's coaching potential on the court in the way she "directed traffic" as a guard in high school at Red Springs.

Even when Patterson wasn't in the game, her mom could see the impact she had on the rest of the team.

"When she wasn't on the court, the calmness that she brought while she was on the court, it was evident that it was gone," Patterson-Heath said.

She added that her daughter gave her teammates confidence when she was playing because they trusted her knowledge of the game and her ability to make good things happen.

Patterson already has had that same effect on her players during Southeast's exhibition wins, and they've been quick to credit her with their newfound confidence in themselves.

She likes to leave her players with a quote of the day to contemplate, but it's her own words that have resonated with them the most, like when she told them she had their back prior to the team's 109-66 win in their first exhibition or impressing on them not to be a "one-hit wonder" before exhibition No. 2, which was a 108-59 victory.

The pair of exhibition games against Division II schools doesn't reflect the challenge Patterson faces in her first year rebuilding the Redhawks' program, but those who are closest to her believe she's the person for the job.

Tarrell Robinson, who is the head women's basketball coach at North Carolina A&T where he and Patterson met while they were on the basketball teams, said Patterson always sounded like a coach.

"Every time we talked, whether it was after a loss or a bad game, Rekha always thought outside the box and ... she always made a bad situation seem good," Robinson said.

Southeast Missouri State coach Rekha Patterson directs her team during the third period of an exhibition game against Oakland City earlier this month at the Show Me Center. (Fred Lynch)

Patterson, who jokes her basketball potential peaked in middle school when she was still taller than everyone else, spent her whole life around the sport with her mom as a coach who won more than 500 games at the high school level. She even kept the scorebook for her mom's team when she was in seventh and eighth grade.

She went on to play collegiately at North Carolina A&T and credits a coaching change after her sophomore season as the time when she realized she should be a coach.

She felt players should be treated differently than she and her teammates were by their new coach, and she knew then she wanted to be that different type of coach someday.

"The new coach and I did not see eye to eye, and it was not a good transition. And I was young. I thought I knew it all," Patterson said with a loud laugh. "But if you asked my college teammates, they would probably tell you that they knew from the get-go that I was going to be a coach."

Apart from her passion for the game and her players, Patterson's detail-oriented nature, her ability to relate to "young people" and her competitive spirit are what Patterson-Heath believes will allow her daughter to thrive in her new position. She said her attention to detail abounded in basketball and school work when she was growing up.

"Not necessarily always home-related as far as chores or anything like that," Patterson-Heath said with a laugh. "But she had a job when she was in high school. She worked at Food Lion, and actually several of her friends worked there, too, and they competed on the job about how fast they could slide the merchandise across the scanner and being accurate with that.

"She's always paid attention to the small things because she understands they make the big things."

Upon graduating from NC A&T in 2001 with a degree in public relations, Patterson went to work for the NCAA as an education services intern.

A year later, she sent in a resume that didn't have much experience on it for a graduate assistant position at Baylor.

She had no one who could really call and put in a good word for her with Baylor women's basketball coach Kim Mulkey, who she had never met, so her attention to the little things came into play.

"She said I got the job because I didn't have any grammatical errors on my resume," Patterson said.

She served as a graduate assistant for the Bears from 2002-04 to begin her coaching career, then made stops at Eastern Illinois and Creighton before returning to Mulkey's staff in 2009.

She remained at Baylor until 2013 and has a championship ring -- one she's more than happy to show off to her players and potential recruits -- from the Bears' 2012 national championship season in which they went 40-0.

Patterson used a quote that was a motto with that team to explain what she learned during that season: "I'd rather be pissed off than pissed on."

She expects herself and her players to have that "chip on their shoulder" mentality this year after being picked 12th out of 12 teams in the Ohio Valley Conference in the league's preseason poll, as voted on by coaches and sports information directors.

Southeast Missouri State women's basketball coach Rekha Patterson (Glenn Landberg)

"I mean, let's be realistic, we were picked to finish last in this conference," Patterson said. "Not that we needed any type of motivation for us to come out and be our best, but yeah, I'm not going to lie, it did sort of piss me off, and I hope my players felt the same way because they're better than last. Like if we were last [last year], it sort of kind of is what it is, and if we go out there and give our best and we still end up last, then it is what it is. You figure out a way to do better next year. But what I learned from that group is you have to have something in you that pushes you. It can't just be a coach always pushing you."

"And those young ladies that won a championship, they just wanted to win. Nothing else mattered," Patterson continued. "And they didn't just want to win that last one. They wanted to win every single game and they didn't need any outside motivation. It was in them. And then they were confident. Gosh, they were so confident. So confident."

Building confidence is key for the Redhawks, who have not made the conference tournament since 2009 and went 10-19 and 3-13 in the OVC last year. It was the program's sixth straight losing season.

"You've got to be your biggest supporter," Robinson said of advice he's given Patterson. "You've got to believe in yourself more than anybody because when things go bad in terms of transitioning, it's natural for the people under you to not question you but to look to you for guidance, so you can't be the one that's doubting. You have to always be confident. Whatever information you put out there, whatever plays, how you do your scouting report, how you run your program -- you have to be confident and knowing deep down and know that you're doing the best you can."

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Robinson is one of a handful of coaches Patterson leans on for everything from advice to a calming voice when life as a new head coach gets overwhelming.

She communicates with Robinson and her mom on a near daily basis.

Ball State women's coach Brady Sallee, who she spent the previous two seasons with as an assistant, also is on her speed dial.

Creighton coach Jim Flanery; Western Kentucky women's coach Michelle Clark-Heard, who led a program turnaround and her squad to NCAA tournament appearances the last two seasons; Illinois softball coach Tyra Perry, who was previously the head coach at Ball State and has rebuilt programs; and her ex-husband Curtis Holloman, who works at the NCAA as the Director of Leadership Development, are others she calls on.

"I don't know how I'd do it without them and prayer," Patterson said. "Yeah, I pray every night and in the morning, and I read. And I walk my dog in the morning, and I try to not rush into the day. My grandma always used to tell me, 'Remember the reason for the season,' and I never got it when I was younger. I was like, 'Grandma, it's not Christmas,' but it's so much bigger than that. And I try to remember that. I can't get overwhelmed with everything that has to be done as a head coach. I am responsible for 14 young women and their development, and I don't ever want to forget that."

Patterson doesn't take for granted the position she's in. She's the first African American to serve as the women's basketball coach at Southeast and first female women's basketball coach since the team's move to Division I.

It's a topic she's passionate about, and as she speaks about the coaches who paved her way, her eyes light up.

"I have to thank those who have come before me," Patterson said. "It's so funny. [South Carolina coach] Dawn Staley made it to the final four [last year], and I was like [screaming], 'Thank you, Dawn! Yes! Yes! You did that.' And maybe, just maybe, that might make an administrator say, 'Well, let me look at someone else who may just be a little different, or I may not be used to being around.' So thank you to all those coaches, whether it's like [Rutgers coach] Vivian Stringer or even somebody like my mom who have done a job so well and been so respected that it opens up opportunities for me.

"And I hope that I do well enough that it will also open up opportunities, not just for African Americans, but for women. I mean, we were at the [OVC] media day. There were 24 basketball coaches, and there were 20 men. And it is what it is. I don't want this to sound bad. I'm fortunate for this opportunity. I'm thankful for this opportunity. I understand the responsibility that comes with it, and I didn't necessarily think of that when I first took the job. And when I look at myself, I don't think of that. I want to be a great basketball coach. I want to be a great role model for my players. I want them that if they want to be coaches, that they know they can do it, or whatever it is, they know they can do it.

"So I have to thank those who have come before and those who are in it now, and I'm cheering for all of us to have success so that again, if we do well, then it gives somebody else a chance to have an opportunity to maybe live out their dream."

Patterson gleans motivation from her belief that she probably shouldn't have been able to reach the heights she has and that she's overcome perceptions of others.

"I mean, I come from -- I love where I am from, make no mistake about that, but it is one of the poorest counties in the state of North Carolina, and some people have certain opinions about attending black colleges, like it doesn't prepare you for the real world," Patterson said. "But I came from that, and I am living my dream now. So that motivates me. Like making my parents proud, making my family proud, making Red Springs, North Carolina proud -- those things motivate me."

Patterson-Heath, who was in attendance at the Show Me Center for her daughter's coaching debut in an exhibition, is most proud of Patterson's integrity that's remained intact as she's climbed the coaching ladder.

Patterson said she wishes she was as good of a person as her mom and is striving to get somewhere in the same realm as her.

"If I am in this for 20-some years and I've had the basketball success, as far as the number of wins, well, yeah, that would be great, but the thing that I absolutely love about my mom and I hope that I'm able to do as a head coach is develop young women and make them believe in themselves as much as I believe in them, and then open their eyes to new dreams," Patterson said. "My mom used to always say, 'Dream big, surround yourself with good people and just do your best,' and if I can get that to my players and they can remember those things, then I feel like -- yes, I want the wins, too -- but I feel like I will have done my job."

Patterson's job of revamping the Redhawks' program officially begins with their season opener Saturday at Saint Louis.

She expects high energy and confidence from her players as they embark on this new journey with her and envisions they'll learn to be that way from her example.

"That I have a great attitude and I am a role model for my young ladies," Patterson said of what she hopes she's like as a coach. "They see how I deal with adversity, and they have something to mimic. They see how passionate I am and that they don't know if I'm having a bad day or not because when I come to work it's about them, making them better. I want them to when they leave me say, 'Well, coach is honest, and she's real. And sometimes she'll tell you stuff that you don't want to hear, but she's telling you because she loves you and she cares about you.' Like I told our players today, 'I'm not going to accept anything less than your best.'"

"Yeah, that's kind of what I want," she continued. "And I want some championships, of course."