Joe Salerno: Helping the rebuild from ground level through passion
DAMASCUS (Syria) - Coach Joe Salerno has only been coaching the Syria national team for a few months, but he’s already experienced so much that has made it memorable and worthwhile.
DAMASCUS (Syria) - Coach Joe Salerno has only been coaching the Syria national team for a few months, but he's already experienced so much that has made it memorable and worthwhile. He'll be looking to add more of those moments to his collection when Syria returns to the court at the third and final window of the FIBA Asia Cup 2021 Qualifiers.
How did a kid born in New York like Salerno get here though?
Well, before anyone can step up to being a coach, they'll most likely have to have played the game. Salerno was no exception, though he is quick to point out that he wasn't exactly a perfect player.
"I was slow," Coach Joe said with a laugh in a recent talk with @FIBAAsiaCup live on Instagram. "I was a slow player. I was a point guard. I was definitely an extension of our coach on the court, but I loved playing."
"I loved the game. I was fortunate enough to have my father actually coach me from the time I was 9 all the way to the start of high school, so that was always cool that I had that close relationship."
"I was a heady point guard, I like to think that I could shoot a little bit because I couldn't do a lot of other things. I wasn't the most athletic guy, but I think I was a decent player."
Though the Syria national team players and fans get to see glimpses of Salerno's advance basketball skills through his on-court coaching, they have yet to have many opportunities to see it in action.
"My playing days are so far over," Salerno chuckled. "I'll still shootaround a little bit now and then, but I haven't played with [the players] yet.
"Maybe when we go to Doha, we'll find a little time and gets a couple of shots up with the guys."
Don't be quick to count out Salerno in those matchups against his players if (or when?) the time comes. He came to lead the charge as Syria's head coach with multiple years of coaching at a high level, but he still barely 40 years old.
"My first job at the minor league professional level was as an assistant coach in the US with a team called the Vermont Frost Heaves. At the time, I think I was 27 or 28, our head coach was fired about several games into the season and they ended up promoting me to the head coach."
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From there began a lengthy head coaching career for Salerno that includes almost a decade in the NBL Canada where he won a Coach of the Year award as well. There were some rough patches in the start as a relatively young head coach, but Salerno found a way to turn it into an advantage.
"I had already established a rapport with the players granted some of the players were older than me on the team. But I'll be honest with you, in the first practice, I made it a point. I threw a guy out of practice. I tossed him out of practice and he probably didn't deserve it, but I had to set an example. I think that caught the attention of most of the guys that I'm here and I mean business and lets practice hard."
"I do think basketball has changed so much of the last 10-20 years.Being a younger coach, it allows me to kind of relate to the players how the game is different than maybe a coach that is 50-60 years old. I think it actually made for a bit of a smooth transition and I understood where these guys were coming from and the style of game they liked to play."
With all of that success and experience in North America, Salerno then found himself going halfway across the world on a different conquest: coaching the Syria national team in Window 2 of the Asia Cup 2021 Qualifiers.
"I really didn't have an impression [on Syria basketball]," Salerno said in regard to before arriving in Syria. "I wasn't familiar at all with Syria basketball. I've been coaching in Canada for so long, so much of my focus was in Canada and watching a lot of NBA G-League and things like that. As far as watching basketball in the Asia, I really wasn't that familiar so I didn't really have any impressions coming into it."
That would all change soon when he arrived on this side of the globe.
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"I landed in Lebanon actually and we drove to Damascus," Salerno said of his first experience in this part of the world. "I really didn't know what to expect. I had never met anybody that had come to Syria and Damascus before. I think my first impression as we were just driving to the city, i was surprised how it reminded of a lot of cities in other countries that I've been to before, but it was much bigger than what I expected."
"I haven't been to old Damascus yet and I want to get there at some point. That's what I'm really intrigued to be seeing."
"For the part of Damascus I'm in, it's a nice city. Obviously it's a bit old, one of the oldest in the world, but I was definitely surprised to how similar it was to the other cities I've been to in other travels."
Salerno hasn't had much time to go out and about in Syria. From the start, his focus was pinpointed in on the national team with the limited time heading into their first games. Right from the start (and possibly up until this very point), he's been left surprised and impressed.
"I've been surprised with a lot. First thing and foremost, when I first met the players, it really surprised me how eager they were to learn, how coachable they were."
"I think the development here in Syria had slowed down or come to a halt over the last 10 years, so our players are so hungry to get better. That was a big surprise for me."
"Then, when I really started watching the league games, the fans are incredible here. They're just extremely passionate. They love the teams, they love the players. Watching how some of these crowds are like and how into the games they are really blew me away."
The passion of the fans left a lasting impression on Salerno, even more so from how they made their presence through Syria's two game in the Doha bubble.
"There was no fans allowed in [the venue in] Doha with the COVID-19 situation unfortunately, but when we were pulling up to the arena for our first game against Qatar, there were 4-5 cars there in Doha of Syrian people and Syria flags. They were just waiting in the parking lot, just to come and say hello and wish us good luck before we headed to the arena. That was pretty incredible."
"But really it was a thousand moments - two thousand moments - after that win over Iran. I received thousands and thousands of messages from people in Syria, people I don't even know, that just wanted to say thank you. They just wanted to let me know they felt proud to be Syrian. They were so happy with our national team and those types of messages, they're incredible. To think that you played a small part in making millions of people happy whether it was for 10 minutes or for two weeks or even if they're still happy now over that win over Iran, makes it pretty special."
As with how usual fresh starts go, there were some tough spots for Salerno to get over.
"It was hard. It was my first time coaching a team that really spoke a different language. Luckily we had 4-5 players who spoke English fairly well. There were a few who don't speak English at all, so the first weeks we had a translator in our film session and inn our practices."
"But people say it all the time, basketball is a universal language. Once we got through the first week of practice, communication was a little bit easier. I think in practice I have a lot of body language so guys can tell the point I'm trying to get across. Whether it's good or bad."
And then came game time.
Syria were scheduled to play against Qatar first, before a match against the three-time Asia Cup champions Iran. The pressure was on and it resulted in a undesirable beginning for Salerno with Syria.
"[That window] was a roller coaster," he admitted.
"I think we had kind of built up too much hype around that Qatar game. Leading into that game all through training camp, so much of our focus was Qatar."
"It was certainly a game where we were confident. We thought we could win if we played well. We knew we would have to play well to beat them. To be up by seven so late in the game, to lose it the way we lost - i think we had 3 turnovers in the last two and a half minutes - it was really difficult. The locker room after that game was a pretty sad place to be. A lot of heads were down and I think guys just felt so defeated."
"We had to bounce back quick. The next day at practice there was no more talk about this game. We had to move forward."
"I think going into the Iran game, we just had the mentality like we've got nothing to lose. Let's just go out there and play harder than our opponent and leave it all out on the floor. It was almost like the pressure of that Qatar game was gone and now we just focused on playing and playing hard."
"You look at the images at the end of that game, the players, you saw some guys in tears. It was just such a huge win that was, I think, more than basketball for our players and the people of Syria. Winning that game and feeling that sense of pride for this country, it was probably my top two, if not the best, moments of my coaching career. That was just one game but it was just an incredible feeling you just don't forget it."
Coach Salerno is now back in Syria, running the training camp and also running some coaching clinics as well.
"Coming back now for the second trip over here, the communication barrier isn't as bad."
"I tell everybody my favorite [Arabic phrase] is 'Yallah, yallah shabab' like 'Let's go guys!'. I tend to yell that an awful lot in practices."
He'll need to do a good job of rallying the troops heading into this final window of the Qualifiers. Syria are currently in second place of Group E, which would give them a spot in the Asia Cup if the Qualifiers ended today. However, Group E has been so tightly contested that no one has locked up a spot or considered safe from elimination.
"It's anybody's game right now," said Saudi Arabia's Khalid Abdel Gabar.
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"I mean I would agree that it's up for grabs," Salerno said in reference to Gabar's statement. "But you have to play well and you have to win both games."
"I don't like to usually comment. I don't like giving bulletin board materials to anybody, but it's a close pool. It's a competitive pool. Saudi Arabia, they played Iran very tough in the last window. Obviously we did, too. Qatar had a great game. We still have to think Iran being 3-1 have a slight edge but they have two very tough games in this window as well. So, I think the team that goes in there and plays the most consistent basketball through both of their games is going to put themselves in a good position."
Syria themselves are currently "in a good position" at second place of Group E with a 2-2 record (holding the tiebreaker over Saudi Arabia). With the recent win over one of the best teams in Asia in Iran, some might be concerned whether they will head into this final window with too much confident.
Salerno is not one of the worriers.
"I don't think we're going to go into those games cocky or overlooking anybody," he said. "The Saudi Arabia game is a huge game, if we can pick up a win there, we can put ourselves in a very good position to qualify automatically."
"As soon as I met this team in Syria, I've been preaching confidence. I think that was a thing that was a bit of a problem with our players."
"I needed them to be more confident, act more confident, think with confidence, and I just hope that the Iran win, coming off that win, they realize that they can beat anybody if they play well."
"I think they can go into the next games pretty even keeled, pretty focused and certainly not overlooking anybody because I think Saudi Arabia is a very tough opponent and that'll be really tough games for us."
Salerno and the national team program are currently in the final stages of figuring out their travel roster to Doha. There's tension in the training camp among the players as everyone wants to make the team. Having nerves might be a point of concern, but these nerves in particular are issues that Salerno will gladly have for now.
"Those nerves are because we have a more competitive training camp this time around. Right now, I think guys aren't necessary focusing yet on Saudi Arabia and Qatar. They are focusing on making this team and, for me, having a competitive training camp, that's a good problem to have, having to make tough decisions and tough cuts."
It just also goes to show everyone how far Syria basketball has come and how much further they can go.
"I think we're at the initial stage of improving basketball. I think the Syrian Basketball Federation is doing a tremendous job of making legitimate moves to impact and help basketball here."
"For example, this week here in Damascus it's been basketball everywhere. They had their junior club championships right here in the city. Of course, we’re holding our training camp. We conducted a two day coaching clinic which had over a hundred coaches from all over Syria attend, which included lectures, classroom lectures, on court demonstration, and they could also attend our open practices. I met and spoke with the referees of Syria, too. They’re here doing training so you could tell that for basketball right now, there’s an excitement around Syria."
"I think we're at the ground level of starting to implement things that start to improve basketball so I think the trajectory is good. It's on its way up, but it's at the beginning so hopefully we can just continue to go in the right direction and just look to improve basketball as a whole over the whole country."
For a country like Syria who have had their issues over the years that have made it difficult for basketball to grow, the most important thing has been the passion from the people involved. That's what Salerno has felt from day one and can still feel growing stronger and stronger.
"The passion for the game is here. There's no question. You can see it in these stadiums that are just packed to the rafters with fans. Games have 4-6 thousand live viewers. The passion is here, no question."
"Now hopefully, we can start adding more actual basketball. Whether that's more training time, including facilities or things like that. I think that's necessary to actually improve the game. Like I said, the basketball federation here is taking the right steps towards doing that."
"The passion is here, the desire is here to get better. I know basketball people in this country, they want to be competitive on the international stage again and this is extremely important to them. I'm just excited to be here at the ground level and hopefully impact basketball here and leave a mark because I think the people deserve it and I know our players do and they work hard. I just hope I can help."
Make sure to check out the full talk with coach Joe Salerno for more on the players he's been most impressed with and his thoughts on Saudi Arabia and Qatar as upcoming opponents on FIBA Asia Cup IGTV!
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