Coach Clarke Isenhower

Married to the most amazing woman in the world. Christian. I support love, compassion, understanding, & hope. I work w/ students & coach basketball.

[Mac Stephens @MacStephens]

Character is revealed by actions not words…@inkyjohnson

[Inky Johnson @inkyjohnson]

This is the day that the Lord has made, so let us rejoice and be glad in it.

[Jon Gordon @JonGordon11]

Don’t let pessimism keep you from your goals and dreams. Stay positive through your challenges. What you believe when things aren’t going great will have a big impact on what you accomplish.

[HSPhysicsteacher @HPhysicsteacher]

Teaching is a job. Encouraging sacrifice destroys the profession.

In other professions “accept less to show you care” would be called exploitation.

Because that is exactly what it is.

When you leave, retire, burn out, or break down your position will be posted and filled.

[Byron Donalds @ByronDonalds]

To you, it's just a Cracker Barrel parking lot. To me, it's where I gave my life to Jesus Christ.

I was 21 years old. I was working at the Cracker Barrel in Tallahassee after some of the worst years of my life. I'd made mistakes. Real ones.

I grew up in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, raised by a mom who worked hard and didn't accept excuses. But I made decisions that should have ended my story before it ever really started. By the grace of God, they didn't. But every day, I was carrying them.

One afternoon, a church group came into the restaurant, just back from a revival. I served them their meals like I served any other table. But something happened while I was serving them. I can't fully explain it to you. The Lord spoke to me. He said, “Stop running from Me.”

It knocked me back.

I went to find the table, and they were all gone. I could see through their windows that they were getting on their bus, and I knew deep down that if I let them drive away, I was going to keep running. So I went outside. The last woman, just as she was stepping onto the bus, turned to me and asked, “Are you okay?”

I told her, “No ma’am, I’m not okay.” I told her the Lord was telling me to stop running.

That whole bus emptied out, stood with me in the parking lot of a Cracker Barrel in Tallahassee, Florida, and prayed over me right there.

I gave my life to Christ that day. Right there.

I still get emotional about it. Because I know what I was before that moment, and I know what He's done since. He gave me a wife who shares my faith. He gave me three sons. He gave me a career, a community, a calling I never would have dared to ask for. He took a kid from Crown Heights who’d run out of chances and gave him a life that doesn't make sense apart from grace.

People ask me sometimes why I talk about it. Why I bring up the parking lot. Why I don't just keep that part private and let folks see the polished version.

I'll tell you why.

Because there's a young man out there right now — maybe in Tallahassee, maybe in Tampa, maybe in Miami, maybe in a small town in the Panhandle — who thinks his story is already over. Who thinks the mistakes he's made disqualify him from the life he could have had. Who thinks God doesn't want anything to do with somebody like him.

I'm here to tell him: that's a lie.

In life, you're not who you are at the lowest point. You're who you choose to become after.

The Lord met me in a Cracker Barrel parking lot. He'll meet you wherever you are.

You just have to stop running.

[Coach Clarke Isenhower @CoachCI1]

@_juwan Great example of how a little extra small work a day truly adds up!

And we spend a lot of time trying to teach our players how to be efficient in those 20 extra minutes as well

[Tevin Juwan Brown @_juwan]

Challenge and / or encourage players to shoot 40 minutes a day.

20 minutes before practice & 20 minutes after practice.

Let's say we do this 5 days a week for an entire year:

200 minutes a week.
260 days a year.

Small steps that can lead to great benefits.

[Siddharth @s7ddharth]

finishing a workout or run before 8am will teach you how much time you actually have in a day

[EZ Garcia @830finestt]

Some players get left behind because they only play with friends or kids they are comfortable with. Have to be able to adapt and play with all kinds of athletes

[Coach Clarke Isenhower @CoachCI1]

@DraftDeeper Exactly. Haha I guess the layers and nuances are part of why drafting and projecting is such an inexact science and so hard to do.

But I love the question and trying to figure out what are the key things that lead to future success and how to measure and develop/grow those.

[Tom Parks @CoachTomParks]

Jalen Brunson is getting BEAT UP every possession, and he is still keeping his cool and finding ways to win.

I’ve been saying this for years, but young hoppers, especially guards, need to study him all off-season.

[Sam Quinn @SamQuinnCBS]

Knowing what we know now about what Jalen Brunson would become (and Mikal Bridges and Josh Hart for that matter), it’s pretty funny that Villanova won a National Championship on a buzzer beating possession in which only Ryan Arcidiacono and Kris Jenkins touched the ball.

[Seth Kindig @SethKindig]

The longer I work with coaches, the more I believe that talent evaluation is actually behavior evaluation.

Everybody looks good when things are going well. The real evaluation starts when they stop getting what they want.

[Ralph Pim @KeepDrivinOn]

John Thompson believed the game of basketball was not the end goal, but rather a vehicle to opportunity. Through demanding discipline & strong mentorship he prepared his players not just for basketball success but also for life beyond the game.

[Ken | The Real Marvel Teacher 🍎 @MarvelTeacher2]

Things #Teachers don’t talk about:

The amount of "social engineering" that goes into a seating chart to keep the peace.

[Coach Clarke Isenhower @CoachCI1]

@Fradygirl65 @mattragland I would say that is a small percentage of the time though and most times priorities and choices matter a lot more

[Coach Clarke Isenhower @CoachCI1]

@Fradygirl65 @mattragland 100% agree & I think we are pretty similar on what we are saying. Of course online conversations are hard to be clear on.

The main point was sometimes stuff happens at the wrong time and you can’t just keep kids at home even if you want to. You can try but it doesn’t always work

[Coach Clarke Isenhower @CoachCI1]

@Fradygirl65 @mattragland I’m sorry to hear that. Glad you overcame things and hope y’all are doing well

[Coach Clarke Isenhower @CoachCI1]

@Fradygirl65 @mattragland But it is all good. Glad things worked out for you. I hope they do for everyone.