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🏀 Working with an edge
Marshall Cho - Nike Hoop Summit Coach
Marshall Cho is a coach, educator, and community builder who has advocated for basketball throughout his professional career. He has a diverse background, having lived in South Korea, the U.S., and Africa, which has given him a wealth of experience and expertise across different cultures. He has worked on the DeMatha Men’s Basketball coaching staff, as Director of Operations for the University of Portland Men's basketball team, and as Lake Oswego High School Head Coach. Recently, he served as the head coach of the World Select team at the 2024 Nike Hoop Summit.
Climbing the coaching ladder:
Marshall graduated from the University of Oregon in 2000. He taught for 12 years in South Bronx, Harlem, Maputo, and Baltimore. While at a Charter School in Harlem, he was appointed head coach for the school's basketball team. Later, he moved to Mozambique with his wife, where he established the American International School's first basketball program and taught mathematics. He also assisted the junior national and professional league teams, Desportivo de Maputo. In 2009, Marshall and his wife returned to the United States. Soon after, he began working as an assistant coach at DeMatha Catholic, which has produced multiple NBA players, including Victor Oladipo, Jerian Grant, Quinn Cook, and Jerami Grant, during his tenure. Marshall then took an opportunity to join the University of Portland Men’s Basketball team as the Director of Basketball Operations in 2012. As the DOBO, he gained extensive knowledge about the life of a student-athlete both on and off the court. He managed internal relationships with various departments at the school and supervised essential tasks such as housing, travel arrangements, gear, camps, and other related duties crucial to the program's success. In December 2013, Marshall’s mother was diagnosed with Stage 4 breast cancer. Later in June, Marshall decided to leave his position so that he and his siblings could support their mother's fight. After taking a year off, he accepted a job as a head coach at Lake Oswego High School, where he had an 8-year successful run with the program.
Nike DNA:
Marshall has been the head coach of a Nike Elite high school program several times. Additionally, Marshall has been a part of the Nike Hoop Summit World Team coaching staff for the past two years. Growing up in Springfield, Oregon, Marshall sincerely appreciates Nike's history, success, and the rebel spirit that the company embodies in the mold of Steve Prefontaine. Marshall even attended sports camps on the University of Oregon campus and ran on Hayward Field, where Bill Bowerman coached and helped one of his athletes, Phil Knight, start the company. As a high school student-athlete, Marshall traveled to Coos Bay, Prefontaine's hometown, to compete in soccer, basketball, and tennis. Looking back on those days, Marshall takes tremendous pride knowing that Nike is an Oregon company. Working with Nike, especially in basketball, means understanding and embodying what being "Elite" truly means. Marshall often thinks back to what he learned from Don Showalter during his time at USA Basketball: "Playing with an edge is where the average ends and the elite begins."
Advice to aspiring coaches:
Marshall faced numerous challenges in his career as a basketball coach, as he didn't have any role model in the coaching world who shared his background as an Asian American immigrant. He realized he was holding himself back and wondered if he belonged in the high-level coaching environment, considering he had never played in college. However, he pushed beyond his comfort zone in recent years and sought opportunities that would challenge him. Marshall worked hard and prepared himself for these opportunities, which led to a successful career. He has discovered that opportunities often take time and that the tasks necessary to get a break, advance in your career, and climb to the top are usually the ones that no one else wants to do. Most people are not willing to work that hard for that long. However, if you consistently show up and are eager to tackle any task assigned to you, it's easier to stand out and succeed in today's world. Marshall believes basketball is the most over-coached and under-taught game in the world. He thinks that the communication skills and buy-in required to convince teenagers have served him well in meeting high-level high school and collegiate players where they are, with all the world's pressures upon them. Marshall would challenge those interested in working in the sports field to spend as much time as they can learning about the mindset of the athletes on the courts and fields before they meet them in the boardrooms.
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