How a year away from coaching prepared Chris Hollender for Wichita State basketball job

In his year away from coaching college basketball, Chris Hollender may have learned the most about coaching in his two-decade career.

After spending 20 straight years on the sidelines as a Div. I assistant coach, Hollender took something of a sabbatical from the profession this past year before being hired by Paul Mills as an assistant coach on the Wichita State men’s basketball team earlier this month.

But that time away from coaching proved invaluable, as he worked from Kansas City for Just Play Solutions, a company developing interactive teaching solutions for coaches in various sports. He spent the year traveling across the country, attending practices, observing coaches and picking their brains.

“For 20 years, my job was to concentrate on the team that I was helping coach,” Hollender said. “To have the ability to travel to different places and see different people, different philosophies, it was absolutely beneficial. What I realized is that there are a lot of really smart coaches out there. Going to their practices and watching them coach, watching them teach, watching them move amongst their team and how their staff operated was really good.”

Hollender is the most veteran member on Mills’ first staff in Wichita, but also the only one that the head coach has no direct prior experience with. That’s a testament to the character of Hollender, who came highly recommended from Mills’ coaching friend Cuonzo Martin, the head coach at Missouri when Hollender was an assistant there from 2017-22.

In finalizing his staff, Mills said he was looking to complete his assistant coach trio with someone who had strong recruiting ties in the Midwest. Hollender, a Mattoon, Illinois native and former Evansville standout player, fit the bill.

“There were so many different coaches I spoke with in the Midwest,” Mills said. “I was trying to find somebody who could say something negative about him. I probably made a dozen calls to AAU coaches, high school coaches and I struck out on everybody.”

Mills has carved out a reputation as a great tactician and the opportunity to join his initial staff in Wichita was a great opportunity for Hollender to rejoin the coaching world. But that wasn’t what sold Hollender, who has previous stops at Army, Evansville, Mississippi State, UMKC and Mizzou, on the job.

“Most importantly, it’s the type of person that coach Mills is,” Hollender said. “He’s a great coach and he really understands the game, but the impact he’s making on young people, the type of human being that he is, those are really the most important things.”

Mills was molded under the Scott Drew coaching tree at Baylor, where servant leadership is the way. In his first month on the job with the Shockers, Mills has repeatedly talked about the coaching staff pouring themselves into the players.

In a recent interview on The Roundhouse podcast, Hollender expanded on what that phrase — “pouring into others” — meant to him.

“I’ve coached in multiple different eras now and this generation, I feel like the relationship piece is what allows you to get the most out of young people,” Hollender said. “There has to be a relationship. There’s a number of ways you can pour into guys and that’s being genuinely concerned with their day-to-day well-being. Having conversations about what’s going on in their lives. What’s going on with your family? What’s going on with class? What’s going on with your girlfriend? How are you doing?

“I think a lot of times we lose track of that stuff. So I think that’s what my vision is of what pouring into people is: It’s just being present, having a genuine interest in their day-to-day lives and helping where you can.”

Hollender is still adjusting to his new life in Wichita. In his professional life, he’s working with the WSU players currently on campus while recruiting fervently to complete the upcoming roster. In his personal life, he’s shopping for a new house with his wife, Kathryn, and a new school district for his three children.

But the thing he is most looking forward to is finally being on the right bench at Koch Arena. He has played against the Shockers and coached against the Shockers (both at Evansville and Missouri) and now he’s ready to feel what it’s like to be cheered in the Roundhouse.

“I understand what Wichita State basketball is and I have a great respect and admiration for the past history here,” Hollender said. “I understand how important basketball is to Shocker fans and I’m excited to be here because of the passion that people have for Wichita State basketball in this community.”