Old Dog New Tricks
Through more than three-and-a-half decades of coaching college baseball, Barry Davis has led and motivated his players in a variety of ways. Davis decided to outline the best ways to be an effective coach, but he did it in a novel way—by writing a novel called Old Dog New Tricks: The Power of Leading with Emotional Intelligence.
Davis says the book is a guide about leading with emotional intelligence, embracing change and becoming the best version of yourself—on and off the field. He says whether you’re a coach, business leader, or mentor, this book offers real-world strategies that blend science, leadership and personal growth.
Davis has long ties to South Jersey. At the age of 24, he became the head baseball coach at Gloucester County College, which is now known as Rowan College of South Jersey–Gloucester.
At the time, GCC was a nondescript program, but Davis turned it into a Division III Junior College national power. He coached 11 seasons from 1990-2000 and during that time guided the Roadrunners to four national championships in 1992, 1993, 1999 and 2000.
The program has remained a national power and recently won its third straight Division III national title.
From there, Davis coached four seasons at Georgia Southwestern State, an NAIA school at the time which is now competing at the Division II level.
In 2005, he took over as the head coach at Division I Rider, where he remained for two decades through the 2024 season. Davis guided the Broncs to four NCAA tournament appearances.
He was a four-time National Coach of the Year at Gloucester County College and a three-time MAAC Coach of the Year at Rider University.
After resigning from Rider, he still wanted to stay in the game and served this past season as an assistant coach at Princeton.
The book is about a fictitious basketball coach, Darren Blood, who experienced tremendous success at the highest level, winning a championship in the NBA. He couldn’t handle the success, lost his cool in a game and was subsequently fired and that began a series of not being able to keep jobs because of his emotional outbreaks.
He was out of coaching for quite some time and then a friend of his, Dr. James Harding, was the president of the fictitious Division I school Virginia Central State University and hired him as the head women’s basketball coach.
The book takes you through Harding working with his coach on funneling his emotions.
It’s also about taking chances on individuals who have shown good qualities in the past.
“Taking risks, helping out other people, believing in people, are the type of lessons you can learn from this,” Davis said.
The book includes a lot of underlying leadership stories. Will coach Blood accept the tutelage of his friend and change not only as a coach but as a man?
Davis has received some high praise for his book, including this endorsement from former Villanova women’s basketball coach Harry Perretta, who wrote: "Old Dog, New Tricks is a powerful guide that seamlessly blends leadership principles with life changing lessons. It offers practical insights not only on how to lead others but also on how to lead yourself through personal transformation…”
Published by BrightRay Publishing, the book is available on Amazon, a story about a coach’s journey attempting to return to relevance in his professions and all the lessons learned along the way.
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