And now...the juco gym I know most about:
And finally, MCC, where I spent all those years. Tiny lobby- not good for moving people. If you are going to create a facility that has a capacity of 2,000 people, the architects should have considered that. There was no concession area and the lobby bathrooms were embarrassingly small. When I got to MCC, the men’s bathroom in the lobby had two urinals- a big person’s and a kid size- and one stall. Who thinks that stuff up? Anyway, I talked a few times with the AD about it and finally, after several years he told me they were going to remodel the bathroom. I said it’s about time. Little did I know that the remodel included taking out both of the urinals in favor of replacing them with one, yes I said one, water efficient larger uni-size urinal. So now, instead of two urinals and a stall, there is one urinal and a stall for a 2,000 capacity gym.
When I first got there, the trophy case in the lobby was a mess. There was dust everywhere, broken glass, broken trophies, and trash that people had conveniently placed in some of the gaps. When I was showing Stephen Rogers’ mom around campus one day, we walked by the trophy case and she said that MCC must not have a lot of pride in the athletic programs. That hurt. Soon after, I spent several weeks cleaning it up and fixing it. I have a scar on my shin to prove it, as one day I dropped a very heavy plaque on it and cut it pretty badly. Since then, the AD got the hint and had the case completely remodeled, so it looks pretty decent now.
There is no visitor’s locker room. They use whatever is available on the women’s side, or dress next door. I’m not sure what they are doing now, since MCC has to dress next door with their “new” setup. When the AD told me that was the plan, I knew I had to leave Mesa, whether one of my assistants got the job or not. I used to shake my head and laugh at the gyms in Arizona and their visitor’s set-ups. Arizona Western- probably the most “big time” program in the state- had the visitors dress in a hut out by the pool. It was tiny. Central had the visitors use the lady’s PE locker room, which our ladies were using, as well. Ditto with Cochise and Eastern until recently, when both finally constructed pretty decent visitor’s facilities. The problem with those two schools, however, is that they are in Douglas and Thatcher. Enough said. Of course, Glendale was the pits when it came to visiting teams, and the others weren’t great, but at least you dressed in the gym and not next door. Now Mesa was joining Glendale in having the home team dress in another building. Glendale had an excuse- their gym had absolutely nothing. Mesa’s was inexcusable, so I knew I had to get out. A lot of people misinterpreted this as a retirement. It was not...it was just time to move on.
We had difficulty with raising and lowering the baskets over the years. Each of the six baskets in the gym operated on their own system, so to bring them down or raise them up took about five minutes each. They moved so slowly. If I had to multiply five minutes times the number of times I raised or lowered them over the years, it would add up to a significant portion of my life was dedicated to just standing there with a key, nail file, paperclip, or whatever else we could find in a pinch to fit in the key slot. The two main baskets had to be brought down from switches inside of the electrical box, which was often open, but the side baskets had the key slots. The mains were equally slow. Of course, the players knew the system and would often “sneak” into the gym and shoot when no one was around. College guys are generally 18 years old or older, and are therefore adults, but the standing orders from the AD were to have security throw out anyone who was in the gym unsupervised by a staff member, team member or not. That’s why I used the word “sneak” for players who represented the school wanting to get shots up when no one else was around. That was a source of constant friction between myself and the AD, not to mention the fairly constant mechanical malfunctions of the basket-lowering systems. There was a sticker attached to the door of the electrical box indicating that the last lubrication of the wires used to raise and lower the baskets occurred in 1972. Look for yourself the next time you go to the gym, and get ready to duck when one of those wires snaps. You should lube the wires every 50 years or so, right? I thought that maybe they just quit writing it down, but when talking to maintenance guys who had been at MCC for many years, they could never remember lubricating those wires. Somewhere along the way- maybe 2017 or 2018, one of the baskets was raised, but wouldn’t come back down. That was not unusual. What was unusual, however, was that it was never lowered again. Whenever I would check in about it, the usual response was “we have a work order on that”. It is still up, but is covered in dust, and might have a volleyball or two stuck up there with it. Not classy.
And the auxiliary gym. When we got to Mesa in 2008, we immediately discovered that there was a real friction between the Exercise Science Department and the Athletic Department. In fact, they were openly hostile to each other. In the ensuing warfare, Exercise Science had claimed the auxiliary gym as their turf and took a dim view of athletic teams using it for any purpose. They had put large mirrors up on the wall and moved in a variety of exercise equipment unrelated to basketball. On one end of the main floor, and there was only a main floor, one of the baskets was at least a foot lower than it should have been, which was delightful for guys who couldn’t dunk on a regular hoop. Neither basket had break-a-way rims, which was dangerous, to say the least. The side baskets were the old fan shaped type and had been neglected for some time. We worked hard to bridge the gap with Exercise Science and gradually, reluctantly got them to be OK with us using the auxiliary gym for camps and practices, when necessary. And it only took ten years for them to raise the low main basket up to ten feet! And it was on a work order. But, we could never get them to put a three point line down or resurface the floor so it wasn’t too slick. And those mirrors…
Next time: final analysis on coaching juco in general and in Arizona...
And finally, MCC, where I spent all those years. Tiny lobby- not good for moving people. If you are going to create a facility that has a capacity of 2,000 people, the architects should have considered that. There was no concession area and the lobby bathrooms were embarrassingly small. When I got to MCC, the men’s bathroom in the lobby had two urinals- a big person’s and a kid size- and one stall. Who thinks that stuff up? Anyway, I talked a few times with the AD about it and finally, after several years he told me they were going to remodel the bathroom. I said it’s about time. Little did I know that the remodel included taking out both of the urinals in favor of replacing them with one, yes I said one, water efficient larger uni-size urinal. So now, instead of two urinals and a stall, there is one urinal and a stall for a 2,000 capacity gym.
When I first got there, the trophy case in the lobby was a mess. There was dust everywhere, broken glass, broken trophies, and trash that people had conveniently placed in some of the gaps. When I was showing Stephen Rogers’ mom around campus one day, we walked by the trophy case and she said that MCC must not have a lot of pride in the athletic programs. That hurt. Soon after, I spent several weeks cleaning it up and fixing it. I have a scar on my shin to prove it, as one day I dropped a very heavy plaque on it and cut it pretty badly. Since then, the AD got the hint and had the case completely remodeled, so it looks pretty decent now.
There is no visitor’s locker room. They use whatever is available on the women’s side, or dress next door. I’m not sure what they are doing now, since MCC has to dress next door with their “new” setup. When the AD told me that was the plan, I knew I had to leave Mesa, whether one of my assistants got the job or not. I used to shake my head and laugh at the gyms in Arizona and their visitor’s set-ups. Arizona Western- probably the most “big time” program in the state- had the visitors dress in a hut out by the pool. It was tiny. Central had the visitors use the lady’s PE locker room, which our ladies were using, as well. Ditto with Cochise and Eastern until recently, when both finally constructed pretty decent visitor’s facilities. The problem with those two schools, however, is that they are in Douglas and Thatcher. Enough said. Of course, Glendale was the pits when it came to visiting teams, and the others weren’t great, but at least you dressed in the gym and not next door. Now Mesa was joining Glendale in having the home team dress in another building. Glendale had an excuse- their gym had absolutely nothing. Mesa’s was inexcusable, so I knew I had to get out. A lot of people misinterpreted this as a retirement. It was not...it was just time to move on.
We had difficulty with raising and lowering the baskets over the years. Each of the six baskets in the gym operated on their own system, so to bring them down or raise them up took about five minutes each. They moved so slowly. If I had to multiply five minutes times the number of times I raised or lowered them over the years, it would add up to a significant portion of my life was dedicated to just standing there with a key, nail file, paperclip, or whatever else we could find in a pinch to fit in the key slot. The two main baskets had to be brought down from switches inside of the electrical box, which was often open, but the side baskets had the key slots. The mains were equally slow. Of course, the players knew the system and would often “sneak” into the gym and shoot when no one was around. College guys are generally 18 years old or older, and are therefore adults, but the standing orders from the AD were to have security throw out anyone who was in the gym unsupervised by a staff member, team member or not. That’s why I used the word “sneak” for players who represented the school wanting to get shots up when no one else was around. That was a source of constant friction between myself and the AD, not to mention the fairly constant mechanical malfunctions of the basket-lowering systems. There was a sticker attached to the door of the electrical box indicating that the last lubrication of the wires used to raise and lower the baskets occurred in 1972. Look for yourself the next time you go to the gym, and get ready to duck when one of those wires snaps. You should lube the wires every 50 years or so, right? I thought that maybe they just quit writing it down, but when talking to maintenance guys who had been at MCC for many years, they could never remember lubricating those wires. Somewhere along the way- maybe 2017 or 2018, one of the baskets was raised, but wouldn’t come back down. That was not unusual. What was unusual, however, was that it was never lowered again. Whenever I would check in about it, the usual response was “we have a work order on that”. It is still up, but is covered in dust, and might have a volleyball or two stuck up there with it. Not classy.
And the auxiliary gym. When we got to Mesa in 2008, we immediately discovered that there was a real friction between the Exercise Science Department and the Athletic Department. In fact, they were openly hostile to each other. In the ensuing warfare, Exercise Science had claimed the auxiliary gym as their turf and took a dim view of athletic teams using it for any purpose. They had put large mirrors up on the wall and moved in a variety of exercise equipment unrelated to basketball. On one end of the main floor, and there was only a main floor, one of the baskets was at least a foot lower than it should have been, which was delightful for guys who couldn’t dunk on a regular hoop. Neither basket had break-a-way rims, which was dangerous, to say the least. The side baskets were the old fan shaped type and had been neglected for some time. We worked hard to bridge the gap with Exercise Science and gradually, reluctantly got them to be OK with us using the auxiliary gym for camps and practices, when necessary. And it only took ten years for them to raise the low main basket up to ten feet! And it was on a work order. But, we could never get them to put a three point line down or resurface the floor so it wasn’t too slick. And those mirrors…
Next time: final analysis on coaching juco in general and in Arizona...
