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Late in her six-year basketball career at St. Xavier, Claire Austin noticed a change.
The Marist graduate found it was sometimes easier to relate with her coaches than her teammates. She was looking at things from a completely new viewpoint.
“I started trying to see the game through a coach’s aspect before I was a coach,” Austin said. “I think that’s definitely an advantage for me. I can kind of see the game from both a player’s aspect and a coach’s aspect.”
Austin will get a chance to put that perspective into good use a lot sooner than she thought.
Less than two months after playing in her last college game, Austin was hired as the new girls basketball coach at St. Laurence.
“If you would have asked me a month ago, I would have said I have no idea what I’m doing after graduation,” Austin said. “I kind of figured I would do what I normally do in the summer for work and start applying for jobs from there.
“But the opportunity popped up, I couldn’t pass it up and it all ended up working out.”
Austin takes over for George Shimko, who had been the only coach in the history of the program, which started in 2017 after St. Laurence went coed.
Austin, 24, took advantage of the extra eligibility granted to athletes due to COVID-19 and played six seasons at St. Xavier, earning NAIA All-American honors four times.
Toward the end of her career, she heard all the jokes about being the oldest player around. Now, she’s ready to be on the complete opposite end of the spectrum.
“It’s definitely going to be a challenge,” Austin said. “I think I’m more excited than I am nervous about it, though. For the past couple years, I’ve been the oldest on my team and it’s going to be refreshing to be one of the youngest staff members in the building.
“I think I’ll be able to relate to the girls a little more on that level and try to coach them through some things through a player’s perspective as well as a coach’s perspective.”
Clare Allison, who led the Vikings in scoring this past season as a junior guard, can’t wait to learn from her new coach.
“I’m really excited because Claire is a great player and I think she’s going to bring a really good perspective to the team and some exciting new ideas,” Allison said. “I think it’s going to add another dimension because she just finished playing the college game and it’s fresh in her mind.”
Austin coached youth travel teams throughout her college career.
“I honestly didn’t know if I was going to like coaching until my first year,” she said. “I had the babies. I had the fourth and fifth graders, and that was definitely a challenge because they’re a lot different from coaching the high schoolers.
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“But after that first season, I knew it was definitely an option for me.”
Austin played four seasons under legendary coach Mary Pat Connolly at Marist. Connolly is certainly not surprised to see Austin join the coaching ranks.
“When she was at Marist, she was one of our captains and she always had a great rapport with her teammates,” Connolly said. “She’s one of those kids who was a leader always. She was never afraid to say something to her teammates if something wasn’t right, but everyone always knew Claire had their back, too.
“You always knew that she had those leadership qualities where she could be a great coach if she wanted to be.”
Austin praised Connolly, former St. Xavier coach Corry Irvin and current St. Xavier coach Travis Brewster for being great role models.
“I know coach Connolly is always one phone call away to talk about X’s and O’s and whatever I need game-wise,” Austin said. “Even though she’s a Marist fan.”
Steve Millar is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
