Scott the Brave on Sacrifice, Emotional Battles and Inaugural Win's Full Meaning

Written for NBL.com.au by Chris Pike

It was easy to think a clearly emotional Scott Roth after coaching the Tasmania JackJumpers to a debut NBL victory was all about pride in what the group achieved, and it was, but that is only part of a story that runs much deeper with the remarkable sacrifices he's made for the cause.

When Roth first came down under back during the 2019/20 season as an assistant coach to Trevor Gleeson at the Perth Wildcats, little did he know what the future had in store and the heartache that was ahead in terms of the separation from his family.

Roth's wife Lorie and daughter Dene remain home in the United States with the close bond the family share pushed to the limit thanks to the restrictions on global travel.

It has now been more than 14 months since Roth has laid eyes in person on his wife and daughter, and while he was proud to be appointed inaugural head coach of the JackJumpers, being isolated from his family has been far more challenging than he ever anticipated.

Missing his wedding anniversaries, his wife and daughter's birthdays and other special occasions including recently Thanksgiving for a third straight year has taken Roth to some dark places, and he bravely admits to his mental health struggles.

However, he was proud to be coach of the JackJumpers, wanted to honour his commitment to the club, the players he recruited and the people of Tasmania to give his all to helping them grow and that's why he was willing to sacrifice so much.

Now, there was no telling what COVID would do and that it would close him off from home, but up until last Friday night's debut game that the JackJumpers won in overtime against the Brisbane Bullets, Roth was unsure if he had made the right decision.

He knew there were times he was needed back home and he couldn’t be there for his family, but once he saw just how much that win last Friday night meant to everyone associated with the club and beyond in Tasmania, the emotion in him boiled over for a whole host of reasons.

"It's been quite the long road and a few things impressed me in general and I was extremely happy for the crowd in the new arena having seen all the work that has been done behind the scenes to put this whole thing together," Roth said.

"We're not just doing it for ourselves, but wins like that are for the people of Tasmania and for me the emotion was all about having not seen my family for so long. I've had a really rough month and my mental health hasn’t been great to be honest. 

"So to get through our first game and actually win it, there was a lot of things running through my mind. I've had thoughts if this is all really worth it at the end of the day with what I've missed over the last 14 months in terms of anniversaries, birthday and just a whole bunch of things that have meant that I haven't been there to carry out my responsibilities at home. 

"But I have been given the responsibilities with helping build this team and create the culture so it was just an accumulation of all that having struggled with trying to do the right thing at the end of the day."

Roth isn’t new to being away from his family. He has coached overseas plenty previously, the difference has always been that he's been able to get back home periodically, and his family has been able to visit him.

With the NBL not starting the 2021/22 season until last weekend, having such a long time to be sitting in his new home in Tasmania wondering why he's on the other side of the world as head coach of a club that has never played an official game before in a country he knew precious little about 12 months prior.

None of this means Roth wasn’t proud to be inaugural JackJumpers coach and that he wasn’t fully committed to working ever so hard with his coaching staff and players he had recruited. In fact that was the only light at the end of the tunnel that his sacrifices weren’t for nothing.

But until you actually see that hard work and your vision of a team in action with everything on the line in a regular season game, you just don’t know what you have at your disposal.

So when you factor in the great unknown of everything that goes into coaching a brand new team while knowing he's done so while being isolated on the other side of the world than his nearest and dearest has meant it has been quite the emotionally rocky road in recent months.

"You go full circle with all those emotions and as it's progressed with me being away from my family longer and longer, you can't help as a husband and dad if you should stay out here and if it will be worth it at the end of the day," Roth said. 

"I've been dealing with those thoughts a lot over the last month without knowing where there'll be an end to this and I'll get to actually see my family, but to get that win last week was that bit of hope that I needed that the sacrifices I've made are for something. 

"It really has been a struggle, I don’t know any other way to put other than it has been such a mental battle knowing I have a lot of responsibilities at home that I can't deal with. You are so far away and they are things you can only solve by physically being there. 

"Then you have the responsibility as a head coach to the players and coaches I've brought here, and knowing you can't abandon them and instead wanting to do something here with them all. It has left me really torn and in my wildest dreams I never thought I would be out here this long without a chance to see anyone from back home, or to get back home at all."

Roth can't be more grateful and thankful to Lorie and Dene for how supportive they have been of him pursuing this run for him to be making history in Tasmania as JackJumpers coach.

The pain of being separated was already enough, it's unlikely Roth would still be JackJumpers coach had his family said they needed him back home or if they played the guilt card on him about doing what he's doing while there is a global pandemic going on.

With Roth already teetering on the edge of wondering if it was all worth it, having a supportive family was what enabled him to get through the darkest of times and even though they don't know when still, you can only imagine the embrace when they all do see each other once again.

"My wife and daughter have been over the moon supportive of me but there are the moments where the reality is I'm needed at home and I can't help with what they need me for," Roth said.

"It's not like I can go home after training to see them for an hour or two and take care of things, I'm over the other side of the world and COVID has made it impossible for me to get back or for them to get out here. 

"It's not a good deal at the end of the day if I'm honest and we have all found a way to get through this as a family so far, but I really don’t think I could ever go through something like this again. Especially at my age where as you get older you start to get more sentimental and your family mean more to you. 

"The game at the end of the day is a game, but my life and my family have to come first. It's been a real mental struggle coming to terms with that especially the last few weeks knowing the season's about to start and there's no end in sight."

While Roth is certainly still on quite an emotional rollercoaster ride, the fact remains he is the head coach in one of the most burgeoning and competitive professional basketball leagues in the world.

And in the big picture, wins and losses generally take care of themselves if you do things the right way, but for Roth what will ultimately make this journey worthwhile is helping individuals get the best out of themselves and reaching their potential.

Already, Roth can point out two examples of players he has enormous pride in. Seeing Will Magnay back on the court with 10 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks last Friday was huge, and helping Jack McVeigh find a role as a power forward he can make his own is another shining example.

"Obviously when you put a team together you are setting out your goals and these guys didn’t know me from anything other than a few conversations here and there, and what other people have said about me," Roth said.

"I told them what I believed in that I could do for each of them and ultimately as a coach you work out you see success for this team, and how each player fit into that. For me, it has nothing to do with winning and losing at the end of the day, that will come naturally. 

"It has to be about the personal growth of these guys and like I told Will Magnay, when I see him get a double-double, he's healthy and we win the game, then that's all I need as a coach. 

"Then there are the special moments of Jack McVeigh committing to convert himself into someone who doesn’t play the three anymore instead focusing on becoming a four man. So he has bought into what my vision of him is which is to become a young version of Jesse Wagstaff and filling that type of role. 

"To have him buy into that and commit to it is just gratifying at the end of the day for me. Why I have ended up staying here as long as I have is all because of my motivation to come in every day to work with these players, and I've made promises to them that I feel like I have to uphold to help them achieve what they want to achieve. 

"I just want to be their friend and mentor, and hug them or kick them in their rear when they need it."

Roth still finds it somewhat amusing and bewildering that he's become somewhat a 'Big Man Whisperer'. 

Throughout his life working in the NBA, he's spent extensive time with working with standout bigs including everyone from Dirk Nowitzki to Pau Gasol to Kristas Porzingis and Jonas Valanciunas, and plenty in between. 

In Perth, he worked tremendous with John Mooney and now in Tasmania he is rubbing off on Magnay, McVeigh and others. But he was a point and shooting guard himself in his playing days, and Roth certainly doesn’t feel it's fair to only call him a good coach of bigs.

"It's a bit of an unusual thing because I was a guard as a player. I'd run around and shoot threes, and I was a point guard and a two guard throughout my career before I got fat and old," Roth said.

"As I got older I started working out the bigger guys when I was in the NBA and I had Gasol his entire rookie year. Then there Valanciunas and a lot of really good ones who came through that I worked with, and it kind of just morphed into that at the end of the day. 

"Believe me, I didn’t know anything post play, I was never down there long enough as a player. I just figured out a few things that I think were valuable to help develop players, and being honest and truthful with them about where they were at and what they needed to do was a big one. 

"That turned into being thought of as a coach of bigs, but I still love guard play and every day I work with the wings, the smalls and the bigs. It's a cross section of things I enjoy playing with but somewhere along the way I did pigeonholed as working with bigs, and maybe they just sent me to work with them because I was fat and old, I don’t know."

You might have figured out that there is plenty going on in the mind of Roth right now. But all his focus remains on the JackJumpers and the huge three days ahead with a home game against Adelaide on Thursdsay, flight to Cairns on Friday and then first road game against the Taipans on Saturday.

"It's obviously our first time on the road together so it all starts with this home game for us, and then it's all about the ability to duplicating our energy," Roth said.

"I don’t know what will transpire as far as wins and losses go, but my intent is for us to be very scrappy and kind of a pesky team that will bring a lot of energy and fight. 

"That takes a lot of energy to bring that every night but I want us to stay at that level, and then we'll see how it goes firstly against a very talented Adelaide team. Then we get to travel up north for the first time and it's an exciting time for us to go up to Cairns and be together, and be in another environment. 

"I don’t have too many crazy expectations other than wanting us to play as hard as possibly can, and become known as a gritty, tough, feisty team that you are going to have to deal with every night. We'll let the chips fall where they may."