Livonia native Naubert part of Oakland’s March Madness magic
During a team meeting prior to what would turn out to be a Disney-esque 2023-24 season, Oakland University assistant men’s basketball coach Bobby Naubert introduced himself to the newest members of the Golden Grizzlies.
“I basically told them, ‘I want you to exhaust me as a coach’,” reflected Naubert, a hoops star at Livonia Stevenson and Madonna University before playing a few years of professional basketball in Germany. “I told them I wanted them to be in the gym as much as possible.”
Following the meeting, a graduate-student transfer from Division 2 Hillsdale College approached Naubert, whom OU Head Coach Greg Kampe had put in charge of individual skills-building.
“The player asked me, ‘Would you mind if we got in a workout now?’,” Naubert revealed, smiling.
Shooting star
That player was Jack Gohlke, who emerged as a “March Madness” star last week when he exploded for 32 points in the No. 14 seed Golden Grizzlies’ 80-76 upset victory over No. 3 seed Kentucky.
“I won’t say I taught Jack Gohlke how to shoot,” Naubert quipped, “but I was working with him in the gym just about every single day after that first meeting.
“Jack is one of those players who puts in the work it takes to get to the national stage like he has done.
“I feel blessed to have been able to work with him. He’s one of those people who make it easy for you to root for.”
Perseverance pays off
Naubert is easy to root for, too.
His journey from an acclaimed point guard at Stevenson and Madonna, to one of the youngest assistant coaches in NCAA Division 1 basketball may not be as flashy as Gohlke’s rise to stardom, but it’s a testament to the accomplishments that can be secured with perseverance and diligence.
After playing two years of professional basketball in Germany for the Ibbenbueren Swap Ballers, Naubert returned to Livonia, unsure of what he was going to do next.
“At that point in my life, coaching as a profession never entered my mind,” Naubert admitted. “I had an offer to play another year in Germany, but I was leaning toward getting a teaching job (he had earned an education degree at Madonna) and maybe giving back and helping out for a high school basketball team.
“One day (Madonna head basketball coach) Noel Emenhiser informed me that Madonna had a reserve JV head coaching job available. He told me I could work on my master’s degree and coach a little until I figured out what I wanted to do.
Life-altering choices
“That was probably one of the most difficult decisions I’ve ever had to make because I still loved playing. But I decided to give coaching a try.”
The rest is history.
“After coaching that first year, I decided that’s what I wanted to do the rest of my life,” Naubert said. “I loved it. It was just a matter of how I was going to navigate the college coaching business, which can be kind of tricky because so many people are competing for so few jobs.”
Naubert ultimately moved to Mount Pleasant, where he secured a $5,000-per-year graduate assistant position with the Central Michigan University men’s basketball team.
He so impressed the Chippewas’ coaching staff that he was promoted to director of basketball operations in 2019.
Following a brief stop at Iowa Western Community College during the 2020 season that was maligned by the COVID-19 pandemic, Naubert was hired as an associate head coach at Garden City Community College in Kansas — widely respected as one of the elite basketball programs at the community college level — where he specialized in recruiting and player development.
All roads lead to Rochester
When he was hired by OU as its third assistant coach prior to the 2023-24 season, Naubert brought three GCCC players with him to Rochester, while a fourth — Mohamed Diarra — signed with North Carolina State, the team that barely knocked the Cinderella Golden Grizzlies out of the NCAA tournament.
“I saw Mo near half court before our game against NC State on Saturday,” Naubert said. “It was the biggest game in my life so I was pretty locked in, a little nervous, and Mo says, ‘Hey, Coach Bobby! How are you doing?’, just as relaxed as could be.
“The entire tournament experience was surreal for me, especially considering a year ago I was coaching a community college team in the middle of nowhere … and here I was coaching in a Division 1 NCAA tournament game in front of 18,000 people in Pittsburgh.
“I have to admit, for a second before the Kentucky game I lost my focus a little bit, just looking down the sideline and seeing John Calipari and Kentucky. It was like, ‘Wow!'”
Qualifying for “It’s A Small World” distinction, Naubert ran into former Madonna star guard and current Georgia Southern Head Coach Charlie Henry while the two were recruiting recently in Florida.
Madonna: Cradle of coaches
“When I was young and I’d attend the Bernie Holowicki camps at Madonna, Charlie was always the Madonna player I watched the closest, as he handled a lot of the ball-handling drills,” Naubert said. “I told myself, ‘That’s who I want to be like’. And now he’s a Division 1 head coach at a young age and I’m one of the youngest assistant coaches. Again, it’s all just really surreal.”
Naubert said his long-term plans include someday becoming a Division 1 head coach, but he admitted he still has some learning to do under the guidance of Kampe, his current mentor.
“First of all, Coach Kampe is a great human being,” Naubert said. “Secondly, he’s a great person to coach under because he gives his assistants, like me, a lot of responsibility.”
Considering the progress Jack Gohlke and other Golden Grizzlies experienced while being tutored by Naubert this past season, the responsibility was well-deserved.
Ed Wright can be reached at 734-664-4657 or edwright@socialhousenews.com.
