Donte' Davis

‘Challenges are what make life interesting, overcoming this is what makes life meaningful’ -Unknown
#iBetOnMe
Game day! Vs. Radford University @ 7pm on The Big South Network.

Some rooms you walk into. Others you were built for.

Today at the Texas Book Festival, I got to introduce myself to, listen to, and build with fellow readers, writers, and dreamers to talk about the work God has trusted me to carry. For 17 years I’ve coached on the sidelines. For the forth time I got to coach from the page.

I talked about Driven by Purpose, a book about the gap between talent & direction and the purpose that closes it. I also shared an early look at what’s coming in December: my new book; It goes beneath Driven by Purpose & looks at what positive mentorship actually does to a person, the one being mentored & the one doing the mentoring.

What stayed with me wasn’t the stage. It was the conversations: the parent asking how to approach this new era of college basketball, the teacher who sees herself as a coach without a whistle, the young man who said, “I needed to hear that today.” That’s the job. The book is just how I get in the room.

I’ve learned that you don’t wait for someone to hand you a stage. You prepare, you stay faithful, & you build your own. This festival reminded me that the stage is being built one reader, one conversation, and one chapter at a time.

Thank you to the Texas Book Festival, the volunteers, the authors I got to share space with, and everyone who stopped by, asked a question or took a book home.

Coaching is what I do. Positively mentoring is who I am.

December is coming. 📚

@texasbookfest

“Set remarkable goals;
Then get to work on
Achieving them.”

- Unknown

#InDueTimeBelieve

No scholarships. No housing. That's usually where the story starts when people talk about programs like ours.

But that was never the story. That was just the starting point.

What we built wasn't defined by what we didn't have. It was defined by what we decided to create anyway.

When there's no budget to recruit with, you recruit with honesty. When there's no housing to offer, you build relationships strong enough that players trust you with their future. When there are no amenities to sell, you sell a standard. And then you live it every single day so they can see it's real.

That's not a workaround. That's a culture. It needs consistency, clarity, and people willing to buy into something bigger than themselves.

Markhi bought in.

Playing in the G League is what people will remember. But that's not the part I'm proudest of.

I'm proudest that he graduated. That he walked across that stage with a degree he paid for, earned in classrooms where nobody was handing out favors to athletes.

I'm proudest of who he became along the way.

The young man who learned that accountability isn't something a coach gives you. It's something you carry yourself. Who figured out that discipline in the classroom & discipline in the gym come from the same place.

The draft measures his talent. The degree measures his character. And who he is now, the man, the teammate, the son, measures everything else.

I’m proud of the person he built during those years. That's the part that lasts.

That's what we were building the whole time. Not just players. People capable of creating something from nothing, because they watched it happen & then did it themselves.

Markhi didn't just make it. He became someone.

The draft was the result.
The graduation was the proof.
The man he is today is the point.

That's why I wrote Driven by Purpose.

I’m forever proud of you Khi.

Coaching is what I do. Positively mentoring is who I am.

Peace comes with patience.

#InDueTimeBelieve