Brian James O'Connell

Coach of the Year - A Humble Thank You

Monday August 24, 2009

Friday, August 21^st, the annual Del Close Awards were held at iOWest.

The Del Close Awards are basically iOWest’s version of the Oscars. Some of it is silly and a lot of it is not meant to be taken seriously but mostly it is an opportunity for this wonderful community to come together and show appreciation for others work. Like one does on stage when we perform, you take care of the other person on stage and support them; to let the other person know you appreciate them and what they have to offer. We don’t get paid to perform at this theater. We do it for the love of the craft and because it is overwhelmingly fun to do and to be around a ton of really awesome, funny people.

This year I won Coach of the Year. This an honor I'm very humbled by and I wish there was a better way to express my appreciation to everyone who voted for me than this but I don't know what else that would be, so this will have to suffice.

I kept my speech short for the sake of brevity and to keep the show moving along. Since I also stress speed and clarity in the “work” to people I coach, I also felt it would be ironic to go on a long winded, self indulgent speech. And I wanted to cut down on the possibility of me crying.

I thanked my mentor, Miles Stroth, and I dedicated the award to the first team to ever approach me about coaching, Rohan Will Answer.

Please let me expand on that for a moment.

First, the other nominees in the category are wonderfully talented in their own right. Karen Graci, Lloyed Ahlquist, Levin O’Connor and Craig Cackowski could have easily walked away with this award and no one would have had complaint. Hell, I thought it was Cacky’s for sure.

I’m very humbled by this award and I really believe a coach is only as good as the team he has to work with. A coach’s job is, ultimately, make what the team does well…..better. So, this award isn’t really mine so much as it belongs to Rohan Will Answer, La Granja, Quillenesschez, Johnny Astronaut and Meesta, Meesta.

But, if I’m a good coach, or apparently Coach of the Year, the honor really goes to Kick Drum Decade.

By far, they are my most dedicated team. They are everything I could ask for when it comes to approaching the work the right way. They believe wholeheartedly, as I do, that one has a duty to be an ambassador for not only iOWest but also to every improviser who came before us and will come after us.

It is my extreme honor to coach them but to also call them my friends. I’ve learned way more from my time coaching Kick Drum Decade then they will ever learn from me. I will never be convinced otherwise.

Miles once told me that the secret to being a better and more interesting improviser is to be a better and more interesting person. You guys have definitely made me a better person.

So, Pig Iron, Hart Town, Gen-Boogie, Curves, Entourage, D’Oh, Scooter, and Captain Touchdown, this one is yours.

Congratulations. And thank you to everyone else it has been my sincere privilege to coach.

Please be on time for rehearsal.

We have work to do.

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