Second time around turns out right for new TCC basketball coach

By St. Clair Murraine
Outlook staff writer

As his name moved through the interview process to find a new head coach for the TCC men’s basketball program, Rick Cabrera didn’t feel like he had an advantage.

He’s been there before, trying to get the job to coach this same Eagles team. That was six years ago and even though he has much more experience now, he didn’t believe it would be a slam dunk when he found out he was one of the final three.

Quite the contrary. Things became a little nerve-racking.

“I was like, man if I get turned down twice I wouldn’t be able to go to sleep at night,” Cabrera said during a virtual media briefing last week.

He won’t be losing sleeps. At least not now that he was named last Thursday as the new head coach, replacing Zach Settembre. He left the program after two years to take an assistant position at Coastal Carolina University.

Settembre actually was an assistant under Mark White, the man who edged out Cabrera for the job in 2015. 

This time around the search drew a field of 125 applicants, said athletic director Rob Chaney. 

“When all was said and done, Rick’s was the name that emerged at the top,” Chaney said. “I was happy with that.

“When I saw his name in the active pool, I was excited. I was glad to see he’d moved forward in the process and I think we ended up in a real good spot.”

Cabrera comes to TCC after two seasons as an assistant coach at Arkansas State. His background includes 13 years as a Division I assistant.

However, Cabrera doesn’t see taking a junior college head coaching job as a step back. In fact, he equates coaching in the Panhandle Conference to being at the mid-major level.

He’s followed the league from a distance, he said.

“Every conference game is a dog fight,” Cabrera said. “The respect level that it (the conference) has a cross the United States, on a scale of 1 to 10, is a 10.”

Unlike Settembre, who started his first year as head coach without a player, Cabrera might have at least two to start with. That makes recruiting a priority and he seems to be ready to do so without compromise in spite of the short time he has to hire a staff of assistants and put a team together.

“Character is more important to me right now,” he said. “If they have good character and are team guys, I’m willing to work with them and keep them to be a part of this Tallahassee basketball family.” 

Cabrera grew up in a basketball family. His father, Hugo Cabrera, played professionally in the NBA and overseas. Talking about his father with the media became emotional because he recently succumbed to cancer.

“He was a huge inspiration in my coaching career and playing career,” Cabrera said. “I don’t brag about him too much but he was a heck of a player.”

Cabrera’s high school coach Joe McGinnis was another mentor who made an impression on him. 

“I always wanted to play pro, which I did,” he said, “but I told myself if I get into coaching I was going to do things like him.”

With some adjustments along the way, of course.

“I’m going to run a program of high-character young men, talented and have integrity that’s going to represent the names on the front and on the back,” Cabrera said. “The winning and the basketball part will take care of itself but these young men are going to work hard in the classroom and on the court. We are just going to play with some passion; play the right way.”