Oates' Court Lessons Translated to Career Success

John Oates knows a thing or two about pressure situations. As a forward on the Boston College basketball team from 2005 through 2008, he appeared in over 100 games and contributed to two NCAA Tournament appearances. With almost 50 victories its first two years in the ACC, including a Sweet 16 berth in 2006, the years stand among the most memorable stretches in program history.

These days Oates is still under pressure, but it's a totally different kind. Working for Sharecare, a digital platform for medical advice, he serves as the Director of Social Media for one of television's most recognizable brands: Dr. Mehmet Oz.

"Sharecare is a company that's based on expert-sourced health advice," Oates said. "It helps manage health for people. It was founded by Dr. Oz and Jeff Arnold, who founded WebMD, and it's designed to help people keep track and manage their health. Sharecare helps run the digital platform and it operates in a digital health space of media and technology. It's really interesting because social media is an emerging technology that's blowing up at an incredibly rapid pace."

It's a career path Oates explored upon retirement. Following an international basketball career, he chose a path in digital media consulting. He wound up at Vaynermedia, a digital service agency founded by Gary Vaynerchuk, an angel investor for platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Snapchat. For Oates, the path led directly to emerging technologies during their infancy.

"I pretty much begged for a job to start my career," Oates said. "Social media in general was really onto something because, at the time, businesses were just starting to realize they needed to get their brand out there. They all realized that it's a great way to create dialogue about whatever it is that they do and then leverage it. I really found myself in the right place at the right time for a killer opportunity."

With Sharecare, Oates helps operate the digital platform for the internationally-recognized brand of "Dr. Oz." It's an ever-changing, fast-moving position that he prepares for using the same lessons learned as a student-athlete in Chestnut Hill.

"I spoke at an awards dinner at Don Bosco Prep, which is my high school alma mater in New Jersey," he said. "I looked out and there were all of these great athletes, a good number of which earned college scholarships. I told them that the decisions they make today matters for their lives of tomorrow. I thought about how I used to prepare for basketball, how the time in the gym, whether or not to lift weights on a particular day, all apply even when they're not playing anymore.

"Coach Skinner always stressed outworking competition," Oates said of former head coach Al Skinner. "A big part of playing at Boston College was to work with a team and teammates who all have different skill sets, all for a common goal. That's all applicable to a business setting, and I realized that why sports, especially basketball, is so great. They can teach us lessons that extend well beyond when we're done playing."

It's indelible, marked by some of the most memorable years in BC basketball history. Oates appeared in only six games during his freshman campaign, the Eagles' last season in the Big East. But his sophomore year brought an increased workload on a team loaded with stars. Playing in the frontcourt alongside players like Jared Dudley and Craig Smith and with a loaded backcourt consisting of players like Sean Marshall, Oates became a starter on a team bound for glory.

He played in all 36 games that season as BC went 28-8. The Eagles finished third in their new conference and went on to advance to the ACC Championship. Seeded fourth in the Minneapolis Regional, BC defeated Pacific in double overtime in the First Round and beat Montana to advance to the Sweet 16. Though BC would lose to Villanova in the final seconds of overtime, the Eagles finished the season ranked 11^th the Associated Press' final poll.

For an encore, the Eagles returned to the NCAA Tournament as a seventh-seeded team in 2007. Though they lost to Georgetown in the second round, it was a successful swan song for the era typified by a starting five featuring Jared Dudley and Sean Marshall. During Oates' senior year, the Eagles went 14-17, but he led a transition that taught the next class of Eagles how to succeed. One year after his class's departure, BC danced in March Madness once more, winning 22 games en route to another No. 7 seed.

"Those teams were just awesome teams," Oates said. "We had great players, but more than that, we had a great depth of guys who cared so deeply and so much about the team and their teammates. That was our family, and we worked so hard together to be successful. As a freshman, I had played only in a handful of games and it wasn't really many minutes in those games. As a sophomore, I was thrown into the starting role.

"But I remember those guys always had my back," he continued. "Those guys - guys like Jared Dudley, Craig Smith, Sean Marshall, and Louis Hinnant - all went back to the gym with me for what we called the 'graveyard shift.' It was after class, after studying, and after our homework. They did a workout with me because they wanted to make me ready to start. There's lots of talent in the ACC, but I can't think of too many teams overall who would do that for a teammate. We had talented athletes, but that's the type of caliber person we had at BC."

Having been overseas as a professional athlete, Oates now spends his time as a business professional. It's a world away from the Conte Forum parquet but the lessons remain the same. And no matter where he goes, he remains a Boston College Eagle at heart with blood that pumps Maroon and Gold.

"Boston College played a major part in getting me to where I am today," he said. "Those are lessons instilled in me by the basketball program and by Al Skinner. I didn't know it at the time, but they're still applicable."

Oates' Court Lessons Translated to Career Success

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