Panelists

Kevin Kelley

Head Coach and Athletic Director, Pulaski Academy

Kevin Kelley, head football coach and Athletic Director at Pulaski Academy High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, is best known as the first coach to adopt a game strategy free of punting.  Since taking the head coaching position in 2003, Kelley has led the Bruins to two state titles in three championship game appearances, while amassing a 77-17 record.  In that time, the team has also appeared in seven state quarterfinals and five state semifinals.  In the 2008 State Championship season, Kelley never punted and has done so just four times in the last three seasons. According to maxpreps.com, Kelley’s Bruins lead the nation in offense two of the past three seasons. 

Kelley’s no punt philosophy has been featured on numerous national media outlets including ESPN.com, ESPN’s First Take, Sports Illustrated, and NFL Films.  The revolutionary philosophy was also recognized by Time Magazine as the 33^rd best invention of 2009. 

Kelley graduated from Henderson State in 1992 and began his coaching career at Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD in Carrollton, Texas in 1993.  In 1997, he became the offensive coordinator at Pulaski Academy. Kelley and his wife Dana have two children, Zack, 12, and Kara, five.

Avery Johnson

Studio Analyst, ESPN

Avery Johnson, former head coach of the Dallas Mavericks as well as championship NBA player for 16 seasons, is a teacher, leader, and most of all, a motivator.  Named Coach of the Year in 2006, his first year as a head coach, Johnson knows what it takes to rise to the top.  His motivational speeches are in high demand at corporations, churches and schools across the nation.  He shares the tools, strategies, and attitude behind his own inspiring success story.  Number nine in a family of 10 kids raised in the New Orleans’ Lafitte Housing project, Johnson, like many African-American males in America’s inner cities, spent his youth battling the statistics.  Refusing to accept rejection, Johnson came to realize his dream of playing for the NBA, but not before his received his bachelor’s degree in psychology from Southern University, in Baton Rouge, LA.

 

Known as “The Little General” for his on-court leadership and diminutive stature, at only 5’11” Johnson began his career as free agent with the Seattle Supersonics.  He then went on to play with San Antonio, Houston, Golden State, Denver and Dallas.  He was only the second player under six feet to play more than 1,000 games.  Johnson helped guide the San Antonio Spurs to an NBA Championship in 1999, hitting the game and series winning shot.  He is still the Spurs’ all-time leader in assists and ranks 28th in NBA history in that same category.  In recognition for his contributions to the Spurs organization, Johnson’s No. 6 jersey was retired in December, 2007.

 

As a coach, his style takes into account his long road and is a true outline for success on the court and in life.  While coaching the Dallas Mavericks, Johnson won 66 of his first 82 games, which were four more wins then any other coach in NBA league history.  He was also the fastest coach to reach the 50-win mark (62 games) and coached the Western Conference All-Star game.  Johnson led the Mavericks to their first appearance in the NBA finals.  During his coaching tenure with the Mavericks he compiled a 194-70 (.735) winning record.  He was named NBA Coach of the Month on four separate occasions.

 

Johnson has a strong passion for men’s ministry, and financially and spiritually supports many church programs in New Orleans, Houston, Dallas and San Antonio.  He serves as a member of the board of directors of Hunger Busters, an organization dedicated to brining a freshly made meal to homeless people on the streets of Dallas and providing healthy snacks to after-school programs throughout the Dallas Independent School District.

 

In 2008, Johnson wrote his second book, Aspire Higher:  Winning On and Off the Court with Determination, Discipline and Decisions (Collins), an essential game plan for anyone looking to reach their goals.  In October, 2008 Johnson joined the ESPN broadcast team as an NBA studio analyst.  He resides in The Woodlands, TX with his wife, Cassandra, and two children, Christianne and Avery Jr.

 

Buck Showalter

ESPN Baseball Tonight Analyst

Former Major League Baseball manager Buck Showalter serves as an analyst for ESPN's Baseball Tonight. He rejoined ESPN full-time in 2008, after serving as manager of the Texas Rangers (2002-2006).  Showalter previously worked for ESPN as a Baseball Tonight and Wednesday Night Baseball analyst in 2001, while also contributing to the network's College World Series coverage.  He was a guest studio analyst for ESPN during the 2000 MLB playoffs.

In 1995, Showalter joined the expansion Arizona Diamondbacks 28 months before they played their first game. By 1999, in just their second year of competition, he led the team to a 100-win season, winning the division title faster than any expansion team in history.

Showalter's has more than 25 years of baseball playing, coaching and managing experience. As a major league manager, Showalter boasts a career record of 552-505 (.522 winning percentage). His coaching and managing career began in the minor leagues. In 1984 he coached for the Fort Lauderdale Yankees for one season before accepting his first managerial job with Oneonta, of the NY-Penn League.

Over the next four years Showalter won three league titles with three different teams in two different leagues.  He ended his minor-league managing career with an overall .635 winning percentage and a 14-4 postseason record. Showalter spent seven seasons as a player in the minors before becoming a coach and manager.

In 1990 Showalter debuted as the Yankees' "Eye In the Sky" for two months before becoming the third base coach for the remainder of 1990 and all of 1991. In October of 1991, Showalter became the 30th manager of the Yankees. Over the next four seasons, Showalter led the Yankees to an improved record each year until 1994 when his squad held a 6 ½ game lead and was on pace to win 100 games before the players strike ended play.

Born William Nathaniel Showalter III, "Buck" graduated from Mississippi State University in 1978 with a bachelor of science degree in education, finishing his course load during his first two seasons as a minor league player.

Nate Silver

Statistician/Author

Nate Silver is an American statistician, psephologist, and writer. Silver first gained public recognition for developing PECOTA, a system for forecasting the performance and career development of Major League Baseball players, which he sold to and then managed for Baseball Prospectus from 2003 to 2009. In 2007 Silver began to publish analyses and predictions related to the United States presidential election, 2008 under the pseudonym "Poblano." At first this work appeared on the political blog Daily Kos, but in March 2008 Silver established his own website, FiveThirtyEight.com. On May 30, he revealed his real name to his readers and dropped the "Poblano" moniker on his website. By summer of that year, he began to appear as an electoral and political analyst in national print, online, and cable news media. The accuracy of his November 2008 presidential election predictions – he correctly predicted the winner of 49 of the 50 states – won Silver further attention and commendation. In April 2009 he was named one of The World's 100 Most Influential People by TIME Magazine. After residing in Chicago, Illinois for twelve years, he moved to New York City in 2009.

Brent Barry

Former NBA Player

Brent Barry is a former professional basketball player. He was selected as a shooting guard out of Oregon State University by the Denver Nuggets with the 15th overall pick in the 1995 NBA Draft, but was traded shortly after to the Los Angeles Clippers.  Born in Hempstead, New York, Brent is the son of Hall of Famer Rick Barry, and was arguably the best player of the four basketball-playing Barry sons, the others being Scooter, Jon and Drew. Barry received a basketball scholarship to play at Oregon State University and earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology while in college.  Barry played professionally for the Los Angeles Clippers, Miami Heat, Chicago Bulls, Seattle SuperSonics, San Antonio Spurs, and Houston Rockets, winning two NBA Championships with the Spurs, in 2005 and 2007. He also won the 1996 NBA Slam Dunk Contest. He is known by his nickname "Bones". Following the conclusion of his NBA career, Barry was hired as a studio host for the NBA TV show "NBA Gametime."

Moderator

Ric Bucher

ESPN

Ric Bucher joined ESPN in January 1999 as a San Francisco-based senior writer covering professional basketball for ESPN The Magazine, and as an NBA reporter for ESPN’s SportsCenter and NBA studio shows.

Bucher joined ESPN and ESPN The Magazine, a sports biweekly magazine, after covering the NBA’s Washington Wizards for the Washington Post (1997-1999). Previously, he was a writer for the San Jose Mercury News from 1989-97 covering the NBA’s Golden State Warriors, the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers, and college basketball. Bucher began his career in 1984 as a writer-in-residence at Yankee Magazine before serving as a general assignment reporter at the San Diego Union from 1984-89.

Bucher, a native of Cincinnati, Ohio, is a 1983 graduate of Dartmouth College where he received a bachelor of arts degree in English.