A postgame press conference where the Georgia State men’s basketball coach talked about God and gratitude is drawing thousands of views.
According to FaithWire, Rob Lanier, the Georgia State men’s basketball coach, told reporters after their March 3 game against Little Rock that the team has had a “long year.”
“We’ve been resilient and tough and had some fight,” he said in the postgame interview, which has drawn more than 334,000 views. “We just need to get back to that aspect of our personality. Maybe we need to put a little more value in one another and be connected.”
Lanier added that more importantly, the team places a priority on being thankful.
“We say a prayer every game before and after,” he said. “We take a moment of silence for those less fortunate than ourselves because we get the opportunity to do what we love and we shouldn’t take it for granted. This whole experience is very fleeting.
“When you get an opportunity as a young person to go through this journey together, (we) try to make the most of it,” he said.
He said he wants his team to play without regrets.
“I don’t want these guys to regret this experience,” he said. “If we go down swinging, and we go down, then we shake hands and we go back to work and try to get better, but when you quit, you’re going to have regret. I think it’s more about that.
“We got to get better, appreciate one another, and make the most of the time we have because we don’t have as much as we think sometimes.”
In a Twitter post, Nate Smith, the sports director for a Georgia TV station, called the interview with Lanier “one of the most mindful” he’s ever heard.
“Sports fan or not, I really encourage you to watch this,” he said.
Lanier was hired as the head coach in 2019. He has a degree from St. Bonaventure in psychology and a master’s degree in educational counseling.
Photo courtesy: Markus Spiske/Unsplash
Amanda Casanova is a writer living in Dallas, Texas. She has covered news for ChristianHeadlines.com since 2014. She has also contributed to The Houston Chronicle, U.S. News and World Report and IBelieve.com. She blogs at The Migraine Runner.