For Joseph Anders, very little has ever come to him without hard work.
Anders acquired that mentality early on, starting with sage wisdom from his grandfather who said that his father did Anders a great service by teaching him to work. It is that approach that has enabled Anders to encounter success at every stop he has made throughout his coaching career which has spanned more than 25 years. From his first coaching position working as a student assistant at his alma mater to his six-year run as head coach at Cal State Sacramento and on through the present where he just completed his 11th season at Arizona State, Anders has never forgotten the philosophy that brought him to this point.
"I think of myself as a throwback, subscribing to the adage that no one gives you anything," explains Anders, who led the Sun Devil women's basketball program as interim head coach in 2011-12. "It has given me a great sense of appreciation, knowing that I had to work hard to succeed. My grandfather always told me that I would always be able to do something honorable if I knew how to work hard."
At the same time he was acquiring the values that would shape the rest of his life, Anders was also developing an interest for the profession that had influenced him so much as a youth growing up in Newport, Ark.
"I knew early on that I wanted to be a coach. By the time I was in seventh grade, I knew I wanted to be involved with teaching and coaching," he says. "I grew up in a small town in Arkansas, and the people I admired were my teachers and coaches. They were the people who were looked up to in the community, the people involved in the development of the young people who eventually shaped our community."
A self-described "late bloomer" who did not earn a starting role in basketball until he was a high school senior, Anders began his collegiate career as a walk-on at Southern Baptist College in Walnut Ridge, Ark. Aided by his one-of-a-kind work ethic, he started 22 of 30 games as a freshman and earned a scholarship. As a sophomore, he was named a team captain and earned all-conference honors before transferring to the University of Arkansas-Monticello for his final two collegiate seasons. A two-time all-conference selection, Anders says that he became a dedicated student-athlete while at Arkansas-Monticello.
"My education became even more important to me," he says. "My focus was on being a student and an athlete, and I was named to the dean's and president's lists while I was there."
After graduating with a bachelor's degree in physical education in 1980, Anders took his first coaching position at his alma mater, spending one season as a student assistant for his college coach and adviser Doug Barnes.
From there, Anders moved on to Wilmar (Ark.) High School where he was the assistant coach of the boys' team in 1982. He was then hired as a full-time teacher and became athletics director and head coach of the boys' and girls' basketball teams and track and field teams. While at Wilmar, Anders was named Arkansas Class B Coach of the Year, helped guide the boys' team to the 1982 state title and led the girls to a runner-up finish at the 1984 state tournament.
"I was able to enjoy a great deal of success in my first job because I coached some wonderful young people who wanted to be the best. I was able to be the visionary who made them believe they could be the best."
After three years at Wilmar, Anders had the opportunity to return to the collegiate ranks and spent one season as an assistant coach with the women's basketball program at the University of Arkansas. From Arkansas, he joined the men's basketball staff at Sacramento State University in 1985. After one season as an assistant he was promoted to interim head coach in December of 1986.
In his first full season as head coach, Anders guided the Hornets to one of the best seasons in school history, posting a 22-6 record, advancing to the 1988 NCAA Division II Tournament and finishing the season ranked eighth in the nation. For his efforts, Anders earned Northern California Coach of the Year accolades, was nominated for regional coach-of-the-year honors and was promoted to head coach on a permanent basis the following year. Anders spent six seasons as the head coach at Sacramento State, turning in a 75-86 record and guiding the program to the Division I ranks in 1991-92.
"You have to be willing to work hard to be in a position to have success," he says. "We had a group of wonderful young people who refused to be anything but successful.
We had one of the best teams in the history of Sacramento State and were able to use that success to move to the Division I level. That was a great experience for me and my family. It gave us an opportunity to take something in its infant state and watch it grow into something special."
After spending six seasons at Sacramento State, Anders served two seasons at Northern Arizona as a men's assistant coach (1992-94). It was there where he first encountered Charli Turner Thorne, who at the time was the head coach of the NAU women's team. During his tenure at NAU, the Lumberjacks posted back-to-back winning seasons for the first time in more than a decade.
"Charli and I became friends at NAU, and she was very instrumental in me going back to the women's game," Anders says. "Charli told me she thought I had qualities which would be a good addition to the women's basketball world and helped me secure a position at Mississippi State."
Following his stint at NAU, Anders returned to the women's game, spending two years as an assistant at Mississippi State from (1994-96), four seasons at New Mexico State (1996-00) and one year at East Carolina before coming to ASU.
When Turner Thorne called about the opportunity to join her Sun Devil family, Anders says it was the culmination of something the two had talked about for quite awhile.
"Charli and I had often talked and joked about it, so when the call came to come back together, it was a dream come true. It was a blessing for me at the time."
At ASU, Anders has been instrumental in helping Turner Thorne create the kind of atmosphere that offers student-athletes everything they need to be successful in basketball and in life.
"I have been involved in coaching for more than 25 years, and I have learned that there is one thing that makes the difference: the quality of the people," he says. "At Arizona State, we have an over-abundance of quality people who will do whatever we can to help young women grow, mature and become dynamic leaders in their academic areas.
"Beyond the resources at ASU, there must be visionaries in place to use those resources and propel our young women into the positions that they will hold in the world."
According to Turner Thorne, Anders has already brought a lot to the Sun Devil program.
"Joseph is a great teacher and motivator. He's very enthusiastic and is a great communicator. He has been a head coach and really understands what it is all about. Joseph is committed to the overall development of our players, and he is a parent, so he brings that perspective as well. Joseph has also taken our recruiting to another level in terms of the organization, creativity, content and relationships he's built in a very short amount of time."