In these difficult times, it is always good to hear from an optimist and Cathy Wright-Eger is just that. She will be retiring from Purdue athletics in June after five decades of service. She served as women's swimming coach for 21 years and has been in the role of Leadership Advisor since 2008. Here is an edited excerpt from her recent interview on 'Gold and Black LIVE.'
GoldandBlack.com: No matter what mood you’re in, when you’re around Cathy, you’re in a better mood after. That’s a big part of what you do and what you’ve done for years not only as a coach but as a leadership advisor. Attitude is everything.
Wright-Eger: Absolutely it is. One of the student athletes asked me “Are you always this cheerful?” I said 'no' but I can remember growing up and we weren’t allowed to complain. If we complained, they were like. 'There are people worse off than you.' That has stuck with me and just to be in a good mood, look at the glass as half full in every situation.
GoldandBlack.com: Talk about your tenure and what you’ve developed and been a part of.
Wright-Eger: I told Dr. (Ed) Howat (senior Assoc. Athletic Director-Student Services) when I wrote my letter that I was retiring that not many people can say they had their dream job, but then to have two dream jobs at Purdue. I feel very fortunate.
For the first 21 years I was the swim coach, and then for a year after that Morgan Burke and Dr. Howat had come to me and said let’s talk about this leadership (idea). For a year I started studying it and then made a proposal for them to start a leadership institute; something that really gets in with teams and gets deep and helps the coaches teach the leadership skills and accountability.
After a year, John Wooden gave us a call and it was named the John Wooden Leadership Institute. Of course we were always going to implement his 15 characteristics from his Pyramid of Success but it kind of gave it instant credibility. Anything you put his name on is amazing.
Because the program is optional to our student-athletes, we didn’t know if it would take off because a lot of time in athletics, if you don’t make them come they aren’t going to come. But they did. It’s been 12 years and they still come. It keeps growing, it gets bigger.
It’s almost evolved to a point where the upperclassmen are leading the younger ones, which is what we wanted from the get-go.
I feel like we really built that bridge we thought might have been down when we first started studying the millennials. We feel like we’re really good on it. We love the millennials. You just have to look at it a little bit differently. It’s almost like parenting.
GoldandBlack.com: The teams are spending more time together as time goes on. Does that make your program easier?
Wright-Eger: That was one of my missions is to bring the teams together. At Purdue we have 18 varsity sports so it’s easy to be close to each other. Our freshman EDPS class does that.
Evan Boudreaux’s mom came in and she talks like she’s a head coach. The things she says (regarding leadership) are exactly what we teach them. One of the things she said was she loves the culture for all the teams here. She could feel them getting along together and being on the same page. That’s really neat and rare. That is especially true these days with athletics right now because it’s so easy for football to do whatever football wants and this team is over here, especially as our facilities have spread out.
But, Purdue does such a great job of keeping it together. I think the Wooden Leadership Institute is one of the things that helps keep that, it’s like a hub. Our goal is to work with all of the teams, coaches, emerging leaders, the upperclassmen… that’s what it is all about. I love that part of it because I think people feel that on their recruiting trip.
GoldandBlack.com: Give us some names of people that came in shy and turned into leaders?
Wright-Eger: I just got back traveling with women’s basketball. (Senior guard) Dominique Oden is a good example. She’s more of an introvert but she really cares about people. It took her awhile to use her voice. She likes to lead by example.
When you get to be a junior or senior, you have to use your voice even if it makes you uncomfortable. I’m not saying sell your soul. You can still have your own leadership style. She is a perfect example. She has blossomed so much. I watch her in the middle of the huddle and what she’s saying to the team and two years ago she would have never done that.
GoldandBlack.com: Fill us in on what Boilermaker Brave is all about.
Wright-Eger: Boiler Brave is something our student athletes wanted to do three years ago. (My role is) sit back and facilitate but I don’t want to take over.
Our student athletes wanted to create a support system (with Boiler Brave) almost like a support group. It would be a safe place for them to talk about things that cause a lot of anxiety: communication with coaches, playing time, if they make the traveling team, performance anxiety, depression, etc.
Athletes don’t want to tell their coaches those things because it seems like it’s a weakness and they want to play.They have purchased an app called Head Space for all of our student athletes.
I just met with the baseball team and I asked how they used it. One of the pitchers said he used it for confidence, someone else said they use it to go to sleep every night.
The whole premise of Boiler Brave is just to be able to admit when you have anxiety, depression, worries or you need help. It’s normal, you talk about it, you work on it, you learn some tools, you fix it, and you get better. Or you go to a doctor.
(When asked) i do share things with them at their meetings. But b It’s just showing that you’re vulnerable and you’re human. To be a student athlete in a power five and the pressure that is on you to perform in the classroom and the playing field takes a toll on them. If they can talk about it, that’s healthy. That’s what they want.
GoldandBlack.com: Have we (as a society) reached a point where we are headed in the right direction to bring mental health to people’s awareness?
Wright-Eger: It’s good, but I think we have a ways to go. I think it’s so easy to say you’re stressed but not doing anything about it. That’s where we need to take the next step.
There’s a hundred things I could rattle off right now we could all do on a daily basis to be healthier. People (typically) don’t do that but you have to do it on a daily basis. I’m not just saying that for student athletes, but for this (millennial) generation. I think social media is a big part of that. They really get stressed out about it. They compare themselves a lot. How many hours they spend on their phone, it’s amazing.
We teach them to put their phone down and go outside and go on a walk. Breathe the air and let your mind rest a little bit. That’s what the group is trying to do is to teach those skills so they aren’t just talking about but it they are actually doing something about it.
Our athletes are hosted a campus wide one hour yoga during mental health week. They’ve hired an instructor. They’ve opened it up to all the students which is really neat. They reached out across campus saying 'we’re all in this together. Come join us with an hour of relaxation.'
GoldandBlack.com: Tell us about what’s next for you.
Wright-Eger: My first priority is going to be Purdue. I just found out that I am going to be able to teach the freshman orientation change management leadership class the first semester and second semester. We have tweaked the syllabus to make it into a leadership and communication thing.
We’ll do the DISC assessment on all of the student athletes. Then that way, we can keep that family dynamic. This is 'we' not 'me'. The sooner you can learn that, you’re going to be better off.
GoldandBlack.com: Are there certain programs around the country you want to be involved in?
Wright-Eger: Pat Summitt has a foundation that they are trying to get former female coaches to go around to universities to talk about her Definite Dozen Leadership principles. I signed up for that. There has been no organization devoted to trying to develop female student athletes. I think that will be neat.
GoldandBlack.com: Talk about (new Asst. Athletics Director-Student Development) Peyton Stovall and him trying to build a process for student athletes for life after college.
Wright-Eger: He is so personable. The student athletes have already started to attach to him so that’s good. He kind of has a dual role as I see it. He’s out there with John Purdue raising money and working with companies as a liaison.
When Anthem or Eli Lily comes in, he is going to be that point person and he’ll set up opportunities for our student-athletes to have interviews and internships.
It’s not just coming in and actually doing an interview, but it’s training our student-athletes on how to do it.
We had mock interviews and our student-athletes went into rooms and practiced and companies gave them feedback. Peyton did that and it’s going to be great for our student athletes. We have really needed this.
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