Inside the Coaching Mind with Terry Pettit

Aug 14, 2021

Bruce Rasmussen: Creighton’s AD, A Conversation Before Announcing His Retirement – ITCM-021

Bruce Rasmussen has been the Director of Athletics at Creighton University for close to twenty-eight years. He has hired exceptional coaches and led fundraising efforts that allowed Creighton to have some of the best basketball, volleyball, baseball, and soccer facilities in the country. But it is Bruce's servant leadership that puts the well-being of the student-athlete ahead of athletic performance that has defined his tenure at Creighton. In the interview, we make reference to the song, "Don't Let The Old Man In." Scroll down for the video of the song. I also recited one of my poems...here is the text of it... Today We Are Losing A Teacher (from Trust and the River) by Terry Pettit Today we are losing a teacher. Today we are losing someone who taught us the difference between the light in a Renoir and the light in a Monet. Today we are losing some who taught us about the “shock of recognition” Nathaniel Hawthorne felt when he first met Herman Melville. Today we are losing someone who said there is a difference In whether you spell gray with an e or a. Today we are losing the person who taught us about the golden rectangle And why we are pleased when we see a nautilus shell or lines in just the right proportion. Today we are losing the person who introduced us to e.e. cummings and these lines from Robert Frost that begin: “One ought not to care, as much as you and I, when the birds fly round the house and seem to say goodbye.” But of course, we do care, that was his point. Today we are losing a coach. Today we are losing someone who taught us a fireman’s carry, a jab step, A summersault at the end of the pool. Today we are losing a sponsor for the letter-club, the Latin club, The student council and the band. At the University, the graduates wait with diplomas, eager to become Engineers, attorneys, entrepreneurs, and MBAs. Life awaits them with guaranteed contracts, stock options, and cars with exotic names. But who is going to teach us about why the boy in Faulkner’s short story Refuses to shoot the bear? Who is going to introduce us to language that goes crazy? Who is going to show us the innate beauty in mathematics? Who is going to tell us about Crazy Horse and Willa Cather? Who when we’ve done our best and things don’t go our way . . . Who when we’ve studied hard and don’t pass the test . . . Who when we get open in the big game, and take the last shot . . . And miss . . . Who is going to put their arm around us and tells us That everything will be OK? Today we are losing a teacher. ----- Here is the video version of the interview. https://youtu.be/JC-lsPA5GP0 https://youtu.be/yc5AWImplfE

1 hr