South Tampa youth coach passes on passion for basketball

TAMPA, Fla. - To his players on the Tampa Fierce travel basketball team, Scott Jankes is simply "Coach Scott." 

"He is a really good coach, but he does yell quite a bit in the games," joked Braden Butler, a player on Tampa Fierce. 

But Jankes' day job is a far cry from, as Braden put it, yelling out plays during games. In fact, the coach of Tampa Fierce spent a career in banking and still runs a small hedge fund even after moving to Tampa nearly a decade ago. 

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"I got really into Warren Buffet and trading and stocks," said Jankes. 

But Jankes' first love – his dream – was always to coach basketball. 

"In the back of my mind I knew I just needed to get [my] company to a point where I can have more free time to coach," Jankes remembers thinking. 

So the aspiring basketball coach did just that. 

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For the last six years Jankes has been an assistant coach at Tampa Catholic High School. But about a year and a half ago, while he wanted to sign his daughter up for a travel basketball team and noticed something about its local scene. 

"Everyone was telling me there is great football and great basketball, but there was no basketball," remembers Jankes. 

So, with the goal of always coaching his own team, Jankes decided to start one and the Tampa Fierce was born. 

"It's been amazing," said Butler "Coach Jankes is amazing. All of my teammates are very nice and good teammates." 

Now, the one-time Wall Street banker has found a new calling coaching kids in South Tampa, cashing in on his long-time dreams.