D1 Nation Coaches Corner: Coach Deborah Mize of Fort Bend Hightower (Girls)

1. What is your alma mater? Graduated from Fort Bend Clements High School  Graduated with Bachelors from St. Edward’s University in Austin Texas M. ED from University of Houston Coach Deborah Mize of Fort Bend Hightower 2.How long have you been coaching high school basketball? 7 years 3. Who inspired you to get into coaching? I knew that after I was done playing collegiate basketball that I still wanted to have basketball as part of my life so that was one inspiration, and also one of my high school coaches, Janet Cox inspired me to think about becoming a coach. 4. What is you favorite food? Mexican Food 5.What teams will be the toughest games this year? We have a very tough pre-season schedule and I schedule it that way because I feel that if you want to be the best you have to play the best.  A few tough games for us will be: Cy-Fair, North Shore , and Clear Creek.  Those teams are always well-prepared and well-coached. 6. What is the most difficult task when coaching basketball? Figuring out how and what motivates each player on your team and in your program to perform at your highest level possible. 7.Who is you favorite college coach? Coach K from Duke on the men’s side and on the women’s side I like Sherri Coale from Oklahoma and Kim Mulkey from Baylor. 8.Give you definition of a good coach? A good coach is someone who can treat all athletes on their team the same but different.  Each player has a different personality and it’s the job of a good coach to seek out what motivates each of your players in order to get the best possible results each and every day. 9.What music do you listen to before a game? R&B, Hip Hop 10.Who is the best players you’ve ever coached? Of course, I have coached some amazing talent which has in turn blessed my career thus far, but just to name a few: Diamond Ford and Jasmine Brewer. 11. What are some goals for this season? Win District