Dec. 16, 1999
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – With ten years of basketball experience, some coaches may view themselves as teachers ran than students but not assistant coach Fred Quartlebaum. The Irish assistant sees each day as a learning experience under the tutelage of head coach Matt Doherty. Today, the Insider takes a look at Quartlebaum’s day-to-day tasks in the final part of this series.
Once Irish head coach Matt Doherty hired Fred Quartlebaum it appeared that the final piece of the puzzle fit.
“I learned about Q through Doug [Wojcik] who after working with him for four years at the Naval Academy, had nothing but great things to say about him,” Doherty said. “He was a good choice.”
He rounded out what Doherty describes as an enthusiastic staff.
“It is really kind of neat,” Quartlebaum said about the staff. “We are a team within a team. We all have to bring something to the table so we all have shared responsibilities.”
Unlike the other sports, all the coaches are involved with all aspects of the program, everything from scouting to practice. Quartlebaum still does not view himself as a teacher. At just 32 years of age, he still considers himself the student trying to learn as much as possible.
“I am still like a sponge,” Quartlebaum said.
The first-year assistant is trying to soak up all that he can from Doherty. Observers can see the enthusiasm, which Quartlebaum has for the program as well.
“One thing that I like about the whole staff is that we are enthusiastic,” Doherty said. “Q [Quartlebaum] is very enthusiastic and his enthusiasm is very infectious not only on the court but off the court as well.”
On game day, he walks on to the court and feels the enthusiasm of the crowd as he too claps along to the fight song. Sometimes he will stand under the basket and offer words of encouragement to the team as they warm-up between halves.
“I am just excited about being part of the staff and learning as much as I can,” he said.
Learning is not always easy. The assistant coach dedicates more time to scouting the opposition than some students spend on their homework. He wants to learn not only the opponent’s best players but also their defensive trends, the opponent’s offensive framework.
“He is very well read,” Doherty said. “He reads a lot of self-help and power of positive thinking books and he is reading a book on Dean Smith. That’s exciting to me improve to see him want to not only improve his situation but help Notre Dame.
Everyday marks another opportunity for the assistant to learn and he realizes this. Quartlebaum knows that in an ailing program there is always room for improvement and he is striving to leave his mark.
“If there is anything that I want to bring here it is energy and enthusiasm,” he said. “I think that is where it all starts from and also from belief in the program. I know that I can bring all of that.”
He brings energy with him every morning bright and early and still leaves with that same enthusiasm sometimes as late as 11 o’clock at night. Quartlebaum credits this kind of work ethic and dedication for landing him a job at a program like Notre Dame.
“I believe that if you work hard and you are loyal and you bring it everyday, then good things will happen to you,” Quartlebaum said. “That is why I am here not because I was trying to get here.”
He describes his job as a natural high.
“I just happened to be the person that got this opportunity to work with student athletes on a daily basis and to have an impact on their lives on and off the court,” Quartlebaum said. “For me, I could not be in a better situation.”
Quartlebaum loves the fact that all he does is basketball all day long.
“To me it is not even work, I love what I do,” he said. “I can do this everyday. This is fun because I have been around basketball all my life.”
One thing which this coaching staff shares is a passion and desire to return Notre Dame basketball back to its glory days.
“I believe in everything that Coach D is doing,” Quartlebaum said. “He brings a tremendous passion to what he does. To work with him, there is not a day that does not go by, in which you cannot feel his sense of urgency and energy about this program.”
Already the coaching staff has seen success with its program as the basketball team registered big wins before the Big East season even kicked off. With the help of enthusiastic assistants like Quartlebaum, it will be just a matter of time before all the pieces of the puzzle fall into place and Irish basketball returns to its winning ways.