Some people come to the United States to live the American dream. Paul Easton came for the basketball.
Easton just finished his fourth season as an assistant coach at Bishop O'Connell High School in Arlington, Virginia. Easton's life today is completely different from his childhood days in Dunfermline, Scotland. While most kids his age were playing soccer, golf and rugby, Easton was learning the game of basketball, which he stumbled across while visiting his aunt in Dallas, Texas, at the age of 13. Easton, now 28, saw a group of kids playing on the street and he instantly became attracted to sport's speed, competitiveness and excitement.
"I joined them in a game and from then on began my love for basketball," Easton said.
Easton returned home to Scotland and joined a local club team called Dunfermline Reign, and he played for the under-16 and under-18 levels before graduating to senior. Although he enjoyed playing on the senior level, he realized his future was not as player but as a coach.
"I had always been involved in the club organizing and was always a vocal player in practice, so it seemed coaching could be a good fit," Easton added.
Easton first got into coaching when he was helping a friend who coached an under-12 development team at a local school in Scotland. Easton filled in one day when his friend couldn't make it to practice and he hasn't left the sideline since.
"It was an experience, I will say. The younger children had no mercy for a first-time coach," Easton said. "But despite this crash course to coaching, I really enjoyed the experience, teaching and interacting with the kids. From then on, I began helping out at his under-12 and 14 classes, and it was not long before he put me in charge of both classes."
Easton was then given the opportunity to assist the club's under-16 team for a year, and he eventually became the head coach of both the under-16 and under-18 teams. Easton became very involved with basketball in Scotland, and he coached a regional team before having a short stint with the under-16 national team.
"I had many positive people around me that really helped me get into coaching and helped me to learn the game," Easton said. "Daniel Reid, Kevin Pringle, Donna Finnie, Ross Hutton, and my mentor Neil Thomson."
Not long after Easton finished coaching with the national team, he was coaching a team that was invited to play as a last-minute replacement. With barely enough players available to field a full squad, Easton traveled to play a team coached by Hutton, who asked Easton after the game if he would be interested in coaching at a basketball camp in the United States over the summer.
"I was interested and decided to go ahead with it after taking a leave of absence from my job," Easton said. "It caught me off guard when he told me it was Coach Wootten’s basketball camp because I had purchased a coaching book two months earlier – ‘Coaching Basketball Successfully’ by Morgan Wootten."
Easton attended the camp and returned the following two summers where he developed a working relationship with the Bishop O'Connell coaching staff, particularly Ron Ginyard (Navy) and Jason Donnelly (Villanova). While in D.C. he met his wife-to-be, Andrea.
"I guess you could say I believe in fate," Easton said. "I loved the fundamental aspect of the camp and how passionate and intense basketball was in the DC area. In 2005, I decided to make the move across to be with my wife in Virginia and then Coach Joe Wootten gave me the opportunity to be a part of his staff at O’Connell."
Since arriving at Bishop O'Connell four years ago, Easton says Joe Wootten has taught him what it means to be a true competitor, what it means to be prepared, how to handle adversity and how to see and coach the game.
"I am in debt to Coach Wootten for the opportunities he has given me and how hard he has pushed me," Easton said. "Joe is one of the hardest-working coaches I have ever been around and he really understands the game. His passion and energy that he brings everyday rubs of on us all. I feel like he has coached me through my transition as an O’Connell basketball coach and has prepared me for the next level."
Besides the transition Easton made on a cultural level, he also learned how intense and detailed the game of basketball can be. Easton wasn't used to breaking down and analyzing film, recruiting players and scouting opponents.
"I now see all of these as necessary and vital parts of the process for a successful program and enjoy taking a very active part in all of them. I guess you can say I am now Americanized in a basketball sense."
Easton said that Wootten has also pushed him to complete a degree in Business Management that he started in Scotland. Although he was married with a young daughter, working a day job and coaching at O'Connell, Easton completed the degree last month.
"My life has changed in so many ways since arriving at O’Connell. I came as a young, enthusiastic coach who had a lot to learn about the game, the everyday runnings of a successful program and life. With the help of some very good people around me, I believe I have matured as a basketball coach and as a person over the four years I have been there."
"Each year I felt I learned more about the game and how to coach it, as well as being pushed and challenged along the way. I feel that I am a better person for being a part of O’Connell as a school and basketball program."
Although he is four years removed from Scotland, Easton still has family there and tries to visit them as much as possible.
"My wife and I have spoken about the possibility of retiring there, but as for now we are both focusing on our careers and raising our 10-month-old daughter."
Although he may return to his native Scotland one day, it seems likely that the name Paul Easton will be associated with basketball in this area for quite some time.
