Daniel Rios is an ASU Cronkite of Journalism student assigned to cover Phoenix Country Day for AZPreps365.com

Becoming a successful coach can be measured by a wide variety of measurements. Overall success is the main measurement. If you’re winning games, then you keep the job. Simple. One coach in Phoenix just achieved his 200th career win, but that’s not his main objective. 

Sean Newland is the girls’ basketball coach at Phoenix Country Day. This past season he won his 200th career game. It’s a milestone many aren’t able to reach.

“It’s crazy. I mean, I never thought of it,” Newland said. “I don’t know. It just never really occurred to me until somebody had told me I was at like 187 or something like that.” 

Newland played basketball in high school as well. He was born in Tucson and played here in Arizona. He was fortunate enough to play at the college level in Canada. He first started at Capilano University as a walk-on then transferred to Calgary where he finished his career. Back then, Newland had no intentions of even coaching basketball at all. 

“I actually started at Capilano University as a business major with some law background. I did that for like a year and a half, and I thought to myself, it’s just not for me,” Newland said. “Then I switched my degree to more of psychology, and psychology is something that really interested me. Just seeing how people work.” 

While at Calgary a unique experience sparked a new passion for Newland.

“One of the things our coaches made us do is run kids camps,” Newland said. “So I started doing some clinics and running kids camps. I was kind of like, wow, this is really a lot of fun, to basically give back to some of the kids and be a mentor to them.”

With this new interest Newland still didn’t begin coaching right out of college. He came back to Arizona and worked for his friend and did irrigation systems. After doing that for a year, he started his own company doing sprinkler repairs. While he was working for his company he saw an intriguing ad.  

“I was lucky enough to reply to an ad for PCDS as a freshman coach, and then started coaching boys’ freshman then onto JV,” Newland said. “Ultimately assisted the boys’ and then took over the girls’ program, nine years ago.” 

While finally pursuing his true passion there is a certain aspect to coaching Newland loves. While in high school, Newland never got the opportunity to grow as a player. He had to take the bus at 5 a.m. to try to get to school early enough to hope a teacher would let him in the gym to shoot. Now leading a program of his own, Newland, wants to give his players all the opportunities he can. 

“I want to be the coach who will open the gym for them whenever they want, will help them, run through drills, you know, will be available in the offseason for not only basketball stuff, but for strength training and stuff like that,” Newland said. “So that was one thing that really drove me when I started coaching. I want to make sure that I’m giving these kids the opportunities that I didn’t have when I was grooving up.” 

His players feel that passion and love for them. They all know how much he means to this team, and how much he wants them to succeed.

“He’s always inspiring us to do our best and try hard in practice, and just always go after it no matter what you do in life,” junior Oliva Owens said. “Me personally just helping me out, by just opening up the gym, and letting me get in shots.” 

“He’s really been only full of support. I think we have the same morals with coaching,” junior Aila Kaibara said. “A plant grows if you feed it with a positive attitude, positive energy, and obviously you need to have some criticism to grow and become a better player and a better them. I think he has a perfect balance between the two.” 

With being able to build a culture over the past eight years. Newland is proud of what this program has become. He knows that he could not have done it all himself. 

"I go back to all those players that came before. That helped me build this, like this was you know, this was not something I could do by myself,” Newland said. “I needed those players to help me. I had a vision when I first took over, but it took those players to kind of buy into that vision and trust me.”

Buying into that vision they have. The Phoenix Country Day Eagles are the No.1 seed for the second year in a row in the 2A Conference. Last season the Eagles won the 2A state championship, and when that final buzzer sounded, Newland could only think of one thing.

“I texted a couple of players in particular and just said, Hey, this is all due to your hard work,” Newland said. “I felt bad that we couldn’t do it while they were here. But I wanted them to know that this doesn’t happen with them, starting this whole thing with me.” 

It’s been a dream for Newland these past eight years. Phoenix Country Day has been the perfect school for him to coach and teach at. His two daughters now attend the school as well and sometimes he has to pinch himself to ask himself if this is all real. 

“This place is amazing. To be able to work with the kids that I work with that are great kids on and off the court. High academic, smart, polite, and then the families to be as supportive as they are,” Newland said. “Then for the administration to be as supportive as they are. It’s just an amazing place to be really, I couldn't imagine myself anywhere else.” 

Being a successful coach doesn't necessarily mean wins for Newland. He hopes that every player that steps foot into his program can walk away learning a valuable life lesson. 

“To help them understand that it’s okay to not be perfect, you know, and that we're still gonna love you,” Newland said. “Regardless of those imperfections, regardless if you win or not. It doesn’t change how I feel about them.”