Carey-Main-Aug19.gif
Behind the Team: Video
August 19, 2016 10:29 AM | Women's Basketball
During the summer, WVUsports.com will give women’s basketball fans an inside look at the team behind the team. These individuals help the Mountaineers succeed academically and athletically. The fourth in the series features video coordinator Craig Carey.
Basketball has been part of Craig Carey’s life from day one. He remembers his dad Mike Carey’s days at Salem International and certainly remembers the last 15 seasons at West Virginia University. So, it’s no surprise when Carey had an opportunity to work for his dad as a video coordinator, he relished the opportunity.
“I never dread coming to work,” said Carey. “I will stay late and it never bothers me. It doesn’t even seem like work.”
Carey is entering his second year as the Mountaineers’ video coordinator, taking over the role for Pat Biondo, who now serves as the team’s director of operations/assistant to the head coach and Carey’s direct supervisor. Being the video coordinator can be time consuming, as Carey breaks down film on opponents, team practices and games.
“For each opponent, we’ll probably cut five of their games,” noted Carey. “That gets a little difficult, especially in the beginning of the season. You’re limited on the game film that you can actually cut.”
Breaking down opponents can be difficult because teams play different styles of play and nonconference opponents are teams the Mountaineers rarely encounter. However, maybe one of the most important parts of Carey’s job is to give the team film of themselves, so they can correct their mistakes and execute the play in the final seconds.
“We put all the practices and games on their iPads,” Carey said. “After each practice and game, they can watch the film. They can see each play that they’re in. We also watch film on each opponent. If we didn’t play very well or if we play a team a second time, we’ll watch film from the first game. They always have the film available to them.”
With the best technology in the country, West Virginia can help its student-athletes visualize their mistakes and improve game-to-game.
“Some people are better visual learners. It helps some of them understand what the coaches are talking about,” said Carey. “Some people need to see what they are doing wrong instead of a coach actually telling them what they are doing wrong. Coach always says everything looks worse on film. You can’t hide from film. If they say you are not weak side and it shows on the film you’re not even close to where you need to be. That helps the players and it helps the coaches make the players understand they know what they’re talking about.”
Carey has always been around the game of basketball as a coaches’ son and a student-athlete. He spent the 2010-11 season as part of the Mountaineer men’s basketball program under coach Huggins.
“As a former athlete, it helps me relate to the players,” said Carey. “When they talk about how tired or sore they are, I can tell them that I understand and I’ve been there before. When I try to show them something in film, they know I played before and that lends some credibility to me. Playing basketball opened my eyes a lot to the coaches’ aspect of the game. When you’re playing, you think the coaches are just criticizing you to criticize. Now on the other side, you want to take what the coaches are saying and use it to improve. Not how the coach says it.”
Working for your dad can be a difficult task, but for Carey, it’s business as usual.
“As long as you have your work done, he’s easy to work for. As the video coordinator, you always need to be available. He will call you at random times and want to see our opponent play a specific team. You need to have the film already downloaded because you don’t want to make the coaches sit and wait.”
For Carey, his next goal is eventually follow in his dad’s footsteps as a coach. But for now, he’s happy learning and growing as a video coordinator.
“I’d like to be a coach one day,” stated Carey. “I am letting myself get used to the professionalism of coaching, but that is the ultimate goal.”
NCAA Second Round Press Conference | Kellogg, Harrison, Shaw
Monday, March 23
NCAA First Round Recap
Sunday, March 22
Mark Kellogg, Meme Wheeler & Jordan Harrison | NCAA First Round vs. Miami (OH)
Saturday, March 21
NCAA Tournament Trailer
Friday, March 20
