From a young age, Jayson Tatum was keen on following in his father Justin’s footsteps and becoming a professional basketball player. Once he made up his mind, his mother Brandy Cole was willing to pull out all the stops to ensure her son had the best resources available. The best resource in Missouri was former Belmont Bruins guard Drew Hanlen. However, he turned them away, but she wouldn’t take no for an answer. Cole revealed how she changed his mind in the first episode of Netflix’s new show Starting 5.
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Hanlen made a name for himself as a coach in Missouri while still playing in college after helping Bradley Beal become a five-star prospect and one of the top ten players in the 2009 recruitment class. Cole enrolled Tatum in Chaminade High School in Creve Coeur, the same school the Suns superstar attended, due to their exceptional sporting facilities, and learned about Hanlen helping the guard.
She reached out to the former Bruins guard and told him she wanted him to train her son. However, Tatum was 13 and Hanlen told Cole he didn’t work with players that young. However, she was adamant and pleaded with him. In the first episode of Starting 5, she said,
“[I told Hanlen,] ‘Listen, I will take out a payday loan, I will borrow money, I will make payments. I don’t know what I will do but just give him a shot.’ And he was like, ‘If he gets through the workout without quitting, then I’ll work him out.”
Hanlen wasn’t too keen on it but gave Tatum a shot. However, he decided to put him to the test and was pleasantly surprised by how committed the young star was. He said,
“The first workout, all I did was basically just run him to the ground. I mean, 30 minutes of just nonstop, high-intensity drills. I got a call from Brandy, and she said, ‘Man, Jayson said that was the hardest workout he’s ever been through, but he said something really cool that I thought you’d be proud of. He said, ‘Mama, they’re gonna have to carry me off the court before I gave up.'”
The young coach realized the opportunity to work with a special talent landed in his lap and decided to take it. He summoned Tatum to practice at six in the morning and demanded he make 500 shots before he left for the Chaminade Red Devils’ practice sessions. Hanlen grew fonder of the young star and respected his ‘basketball or bust’ attitude.
He helped Tatum become a five-star prospect and a top-five player in the 2016 recruitment class. Duke, Kentucky, North Carolina, and Saint Louis came calling and the young forward chose the Blue Devils. He had an exceptional freshman season at Duke University and declared for the 2017 NBA draft, where the Celtics picked him as the third overall pick.
Seven years into his NBA career, Tatum is a five-time All-Star, has three All-NBA First Team nods, and has won the championship and two Olympic gold medals. Hanlen’s career as a coach has also gone from strength to strength. He has worked with Tyrese Maxey, Chet Holmgren, Tyrese Haliburton, Joel Embiid, and several other NBA stars.
Both, the Celtics superstar and the young star, benefitted from working together, but it wouldn’t have been possible had it not been for Brandy Cole’s relentlessness.
