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Dan Porcic has always been about the grind. The behind-the-scenes stuff, the work-your-way-up mentality, it’s all right in his wheelhouse.
And that’s what makes him such a good fit as a new graduate assistant coach with the Southern Methodist University men’s basketball team.
The Putnam native and Putnam Science Academy graduate found out in early May that he was being offered the position at SMU, graduated from Mount St. Vincent in late May, and was in Dallas for his first day of work on June 1.
“It’s huge, it’s such a great opportunity,” Porcic said earlier this month. “It’s a great school to begin with, so the chance to get my master’s degree from there is incredible. Then when you talk basketball, I’m really looking forward to learning from coaches who have great experience. Working with them and learning from them…I’m just so excited for it.
“My main thing will be player development, so I know have to be available for the guys if they want to get extra work in outside of practice time. The good thing is my apartment is only five minutes from campus so I can be there whenever they want me to be. We practice in the mornings, but when I don’t have my own classes, I’ll be there to help them and put them through workouts and get the extra work that guys put in to get their game to the next level.”
Porcic was at PSA for his junior and senior years, plus a postgrad season in 2018-19. He was part of the first national championship team after, what else, working his way up from the Elite team.
“Dan is special to us,” PSA coach Tom Espinosa said. “It feels like he’s been around our program forever. He played three years with us, but when he was home from college on break, he’d always come up and work out at the school.
“He’s a great kid, great family. It’s not easy to find a grad position, it’s a big-time position for him. I’m real happy for him, it couldn’t happen to a better kid.”
Porcic had actually been talking with VCU about the same position there but when most of the coaching staff left for Penn State in March, that fell through. However, one of the VCU assistant coaches he had built a close relationship with had some connections at SMU, and recommended Porcic to them. He also credited Espinosa and PSA’s associate head coach Josh Scraba for helping out, along with his older brother, Dino, who was recently named the head coach of the Johnson & Wales women’s team.
Dan’s ultimate goal is similar.
“The next step is coaching but I want to stick on the men’s side,” he said. “I’ve played my entire life but I’ve come to my senses and the understanding that I’m not playing anymore. But I want to stay around the game. And this is a good stepping-stone opportunity for me to move forward in my career to be a coach one day.
“I understand you have to work your way up. I’m hoping I can get a D-I assistant coaching position out of this and then from there move up as much as I can. And then a D-II or D-III head coaching job. That’s the goal. But you know how life goes, everything changes. A month ago, I didn’t expect to be here. You just take it day-by-day and keep grinding.”
Stephen Nalbandian
Sports Information Director
Putnam Science Academy
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