AUBURN, Ala. – Introduced to basketball at age 14, Auburn assistant track and field coach Nick Newman's fascination for leaping began with his inability to do so.
"My obsession with dunking. I became fascinated with why can they jump and I can't jump?" Newman pondered while watching others soar above the rim. "Literally from the age of 14 till now, I've been passionate about developing jumping."
Newman's first pupil was himself.
"I was my own experiment for 10 years," he said. "Throughout my long jump career, I coached myself. Made lots of mistakes and had lots of success as well. That helped formulate my coaching philosophy and program. I read a variety of books and put it all together. I didn't want to copy a program. I wanted to design my own."
At the age of 15, standing 5 feet, 10 inches, Newman went from not being able to touch the rim to dunking with two hands by the end of the summer.
"At 16 or 17, I was able to do any dunk I wanted to do," Newman recalled.
A coaching career was born.
A teenage obsession with dunking launched Nick Newman's jumping and coaching careers
Newman, who coaches high jump, long jump, triple jump, decathlon and heptathlon, came to the U.S. from England in 2002 to play basketball.
"Basketball didn't work out and track and field took over," said Newman, who attended Manhattan College on a track scholarship, earning a bachelor's in exercise science.
In 2000, he began studying sports science: biomechanics, sports psychology, anything that would help him understand athletic performance.
After earning his master's degree from Cal-State Fullerton, Newman began coaching athletes of all ages in various sports before zeroing in on track and field eight years ago at the University of California in Berkeley.
From there, Newman went to Southern Cal, helping the Trojans' women's team win an NCAA championship.
"That was a springboard for me," said Newman, who then transitioned to Tennessee, where he coached two NCAA long jump champions.
"As a result, I was named National Assistant Coach of the Year last year," Newman said. "A very big highlight."
That attracted the attention of first-year Auburn head coach Leroy Burrell.
"He let me know about what he was trying to build here," said Newman, who wanted to remain in the SEC after a head coaching change at UT.
"It's exciting because all of the staff here, they've all coached national champs, and they've all got the same vision and goals," Newman said. "We want to make this team the best in the country. For me to be able to do it here would be a big deal.
"That's the vision for this program. We want that to be the standard. Every year have a national champion. We want to win a national title. We want to be in the mix every year. We have the staff for that. We have the recruiting vision for that. We just need to keep working. It's very possible here with the staff we have."
'We want to win a national title'
While Auburn represents a dramatic departure from Newman's earlier coaching stops in the Bay Area and Los Angeles, it's still, in a sense, close to home.
"I grew up in a county called Lincolnshire, and it's almost the same as this, with fields and agriculture," he said. "It's almost like going home.
"It's a great opportunity. We have a good roster and a great vision for the future. I love the facility, it's very peaceful, a really nice setting."
Years later, the answers that Nick Newman sought on a basketball court in England have brought him to the Plains, combining nature and nurture to help Auburn's jumpers defy gravity.
"A lot of it is genetic potential, no question about it," Newman said. "I can't think that I had the most incredible potential for jumping yet I reached a high level and was able to jump very high on the basketball court.
"It answers the question what is more trainable and what is less trainable? Jumping ability, strength, power: very trainable in almost everybody. Sprinting speed is far less trainable."
Newman's sprinting speed, he says, was his limiting factor in long jump, neutralizing his strength and jumping ability.
"My own experience plus all of the years of coaching has painted a really good picture of how it works and why it works," he said. "That helps with recruiting the talent and type of student-athletes we're looking for.
"In terms of jumps, there is no more passionate coach in the country than me. What I want are student-athletes who are also students of the sport who are passionate about learning, development and the process. If you're that type of athlete, you'll love this environment and the way this group works.
"If that's what you're looking for, this is a great place for you. We can be the best in the country here at Auburn."
'In terms of jumps, there is no more passionate coach in the country than me'
Jeff Shearer is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: @jeff_shearer