Thanks to 22 years in the coaching industry, assistant coach Nicci Hays Fort has brought a wealth of experience to the Drake women's basketball program.
After finishing her basketball and softball playing careers at Culver-Stockton College, an NAIA school in Canton, Mo., Hays Fort accepted an offer in 1998 to start the women's basketball program at the US Merchant Marine Academy.
It was her first step among many in working to grow women's basketball. Hays Fort served a stint as an assistant coach at Nicholls State before becoming head coach at Barry, a Division II school in Miami Shores, Fla. From there, Hays Fort was an associate head coach at DePaul and the head coach at Colgate. In July of 2016, Hays Fort became an assistant coach at Drake.
"Jennie (Baranczyk) and I had worked as assistants in the BIG EAST; I was at DePaul, she was at Marquette," said Hays Fort. "We had known each other for 10 years. When I was at Colgate, and she was here, we talked often. So when she had an opening, she reached out. I knew this would be a great opportunity because Jennie is such a great coach and I could learn a lot from her. The program is great, and being part of a successful program was really appealing. Being back in the Midwest was a nice thing, too."
While Hays Fort was at DePaul and Baranczyk was at Marquette, the two developed a mutual respect.
"We spent a lot of time in gyms together," said Hays Fort. "As assistant coaches, we're recruiting a lot, and when you're in the same conference and the same area – Milwaukee and Chicago – you end up recruiting a lot of the same kids. DePaul and Marquette are rivals, so we weren't supposed to like each other, but when you sit next to each other in gyms for hours and hours, you figure out who's good and who's paying attention. You could tell that Jennie had it. She had a great personality, but she was also there to do her job. It was fun keeping up with her and seeing her career grow and seeing all the success she's had along the way."
At Drake, Hays Fort still spends hours in gyms across the country looking for future Bulldogs. During games, she is tasked with offensive tracking. Off the court, Hays Fort handles Drake's foreign tours and camps.
"Camps are a huge part of our program because they help grow the game and grow our fan base," said Hays Fort. "Seeing all these young girls be excited about basketball and having our student-athletes be role models for them, it's awesome."
Hays Fort recently completed her fourth season with the Bulldogs. Her wealth of knowledge and experience has proved invaluable to the program, despite what she says.
"One of my old bosses used to say, 'I'm not smarter, I've just lived longer,'" said Hays Fort. "I've just had a lot of experience from Division III to Division II to Division I. I've done the bus trips; I've driven the bus. I've had no assistants or staff. Now being fortunate enough to be at Drake, we're one of the top programs in the country. We've worked hard for it. Jennie has worked hard for it and she's done a great job.
"You have to try to learn from all your different experiences and all the things that you would do differently, and then you have to grow from it. There are a lot of times when Jennie does something and I think, 'I have to remember this.' Anything from how we sub, or how we keep our roster numbers pretty low, to our offensive system, all of that stuff. I sometimes tease that I need to start writing a book to remember these things. I think I've become a better person and a better coach from all those experiences. I was very intense when I first got into coaching, but now I'm a lot more laid back … a lot more laid back."
Hays Fort's hiring coincided with the beginning of arguably the best stretch in Drake women's basketball history. In Hays Fort's first three seasons, the Bulldogs won three Missouri Valley Conference regular-season championships and earned three berths into the NCAA Tournament.
What's the key to that success?
"Offensive basketball," said Hays Fort. "It's fun, and when it's fun, kids want to play that style. We do a good job here at Drake of recruiting kids to that style. Jennie is a player's coach, meaning she's not controlling every single possession. I think that gives the players the freedom to make decisions and make reads, and that leads to more success."
Hays Fort is not one to get caught up in past accomplishments. Even with the last three MVC titles under her belt, she remains focused on the process.
"Our goal is to get better and be a better team every single day. We want to continue celebrating each other," Hays Fort said. "We've done a great job of that, but we want to take it to another level on and off the court. We want to be the best possible teammates we can be. We have so many cool moments on the basketball court, we want to continue to build on those and taking steps forward. We don't have to reinvent the wheel; we want to compete, play tough and play our game. When we're all celebrating each other and high-fiving, that creates a happiness that helps us play better."
