Eau Claire (WQOW) -- Neillsville native Oliver Drake is the second of four finalists for the UW-Eau Claire men's basketball coaching job to interview on campus.
Drake just finished his second season as head coach at Ashford University, an NAIA school in Clinton, Iowa. Drake has also coached locally; he is a former head coach at Cadott High School, and is also a former Blugolds assistant coach.
Drake and his wife are both UWEC alums. Those are among the reasons Drake says UW-Eau Claire is definitely a destination job.
"When I started this coaching journey, this was the job," says Drake, "for a class for my Master's degree, we had to write long-term goals, and this was my long-term professional goal, to be the head coach at UW-Eau Claire basketball, and here I am getting the opportunity to put myself out there, and I know it could go one of two directions, but I'm ecstatic to be here in front of all of you, there's no question this is my dream job, and it's not the next job, it's UW-Eau Claire basketball, it doesn't get any bigger than this, in my mind."
Drake says he'll expect a lot from his players, but no more than he expects from himself and his staff.
"It's just a blue-collar approach," says Drake, "going out there and working as hard as you possibly can in all phases, and that's academically, that's socially, that's community service, that's basketball, so long story short, it's work, and it's going to take some work, and it's going to take some time. How much time, I don't know, but we're going to be process-oriented here, and not outcome oriented. Our goals are not going to be based on wins and losses, our goals are going to be how we handle our business, day in and day out, and if every day you focus on day in and day out tasks, wins will take care of itself, and that's what we're going to be about, process-oriented and not outcome oriented, rolling up our sleeves and just getting after it, every single day."
Prior to his time at Ashford, Drake was an assistant coach at Wartburg (IA) from 2004-2010. In 2003-04, he was part of Terry Gibbons' staff at UWEC. Drake was an assistant coach at Eau Claire Memorial H.S. for the 2000-01 season, before becoming head coach at Cadott H.S. from 2001-03.
Wednesday, another UWEC alum and former Blugolds assistant will be on campus for his interview: current UW-Superior head coach Matt Siverling.
