Becoming a women’s coach…
I never really considered the possibility of becoming a women’s coach when I took the job at Yavapai in 1982. I was going to do both men and women with Dave Brown and it was just basketball to me. Dave had recruited a solid bunch of female players and it became pretty obvious to me right away that they could handle the defense. We would practice the women first everyday and then the men would come on with literally no break- so it was six hours a day with no chance to go eat or take a seat or anything. But I was a young guy full of the things that Coach Youree had given me and I was ready for it. It never seemed to be a problem at the time. I became extremely close with both teams, as close as I have ever been I believe. Both teams were giving tremendous effort and I have remained close friends with many of them to this day.
The 82-83 Lady Roughriders went 25-5 and won the Region 1 championship, beating Central in the final. Maybe that doesn’t mean a lot to the readers today, but Central was coached by Lin Laursen, who won 30 ACCAC conference championships, including 21 in a row. She is in the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame and was as fierce as competitor as I have ever known. The year we beat her, she was named the NJCAA Coach of the Year, and according to a Sports Illustrated article about her, was in Las Vegas drowning her sorrows after our loss when she got the news. They had us by eight at the half, but we came in and said if we do not allow any transition baskets in the second half, we will win. We allowed zero and won 63-55.
We drew Roxbury, Massachusetts in the first round game of the national tournament- a team that was ranked #2 in the nation. I knew nothing about them and so called coaches up in their area to get as much information as I could. Film was impossible to get for women’s teams in those days, so I had to go on what coaches were saying. Everyone said “they run”. I said “what do they do when they don’t run?” Everyone said “they run”. They had a great All-American point guard who played just about all the time. She was a great penetrator, which went to the heart of what our defensive philosophy was all about- so were going to be tested. Because “they run”, they were also leading the nation in points scored per game, at around 88. There was a shot clock for women in those days- way before the men- and it was 30 seconds. I adapted to it well and didn’t need to have years of training to figure out that it actually favored good defense. What I mean is if you can get the other team down to the “red zone”, seven seconds or less, then someone is going to have to try and make a play- which usually involves driving. For us, driving meant help, which meant charges. Against Roxbury, we took twelve charges- six by our All-American guard, Julie Hanks. Their point guard only played 12 minutes, because she kept running people over and was in foul trouble. We got back like we did against Central and didn’t allow them to run. Final score- Yavapai 80 Roxbury 56. From watching the other games in the tournament, it looked to me like we had a real shot at winning it all.
Our quarterfinal game was against DeKalb, Georgia. They were also a pressing, running team, and for 35 minutes we were in complete control. We were playing magnificent defense and were up 52-39 with just over 5 minutes left. Then DeKalb started fouling. We missed eleven free throws in a row- it was unbelievable. Even our very best shooters missed. We didn’t score another point and lost 53-52 on a last second shot from the top of the key- the buzzer went off as the ball went through. It was stunning and I was as sad as I have ever been- sad because we lost and extra sad because that team was so much fun to coach. We would never be together again. The national tournament was in Senatobia, Mississippi, but we were staying in Memphis, which was about 50 miles away. We were stuck there for an extra few days, because our plane tickets took us through the day after the tournament. The ladies put a suicide watch on my room, because they thought I was going to end it all after that defeat.
Later that spring, Dave Brown took off to NAU to become the head women’s coach there. He left me behind to take over as the women’s coach at Yavapai- he made sure they hired me before he left, which was a nice gesture on his part. He took the cream of our freshmen with him, which is understandable because he had recruited them and they were big time D1 prospects. That meant that I had to scramble to recruit, but we did OK. The next year, we played Central in the championship game of the Pima College tournament and beat them- meaning we had beat them twice in a row, which I am pretty certain was never repeated by anyone. I remember looking down at Lin near the end of the game and she was looking back at me like “what the hell’s going on here?” She was as tough as there was and would eventually beat us in the Region 1 championship game up in St. George, Utah later that year. We ended up 22-7. The year after that, we were 20-8, but beaten in the region semi-finals by Cochise.
So, with a shot clock and all, I ended my Yavapai women’s career at 67-20. I knew at the end of the third year that I didn’t really want to be a women’s coach- no offense to the ladies. It was just not what I wanted to do, but thanks to the Universe, was sure glad I got the opportunity when I did to do it. We loved Prescott, particularly Groom Creek, and my wife had gotten a position at the Hassayampa Hotel there in town that was a great opportunity. But she has always been very supportive of my career and knew that it was time to move on. We made plans to move back to the Valley and see what we could find.
Again, the camps I had worked in Prescott led to another opportunity. I had met Bill Farrell at one of them, who was the coach at Paradise Valley High School. He and I talked late in the spring of ’85, and I told him that I didn’t want to be a women’s coach and that I was moving back to the Phoenix area. Eventually, he got me on at his high school as a teacher in the Social Studies department (dual major, right?), and I would help him with the basketball team. So, I had gone from a private high school, to a community college, and now to a public high school.
For those of you who have been reading these blogs, I am going through this history to let you know that I love basketball and have been around the block a few times when it comes to playing and coaching. Because I am doing this, I have kind of been taking stock of my own career in a way that I don’t normally do. For example, I was outside working on the lawn today and remembered that I had written in a previous blog that I had 18 years of college coaching experience. That’s a lot- and I never really thought of myself that way. I have had 25 years of high school coaching experience. That’s 43 years- an unbelievable number for me to ponder. I have served 6 as an assistant and 37 as a head coach. If you have any thing to add, any questions, and stories of your own- please do not hesitate.
Next…Trojans…
I never really considered the possibility of becoming a women’s coach when I took the job at Yavapai in 1982. I was going to do both men and women with Dave Brown and it was just basketball to me. Dave had recruited a solid bunch of female players and it became pretty obvious to me right away that they could handle the defense. We would practice the women first everyday and then the men would come on with literally no break- so it was six hours a day with no chance to go eat or take a seat or anything. But I was a young guy full of the things that Coach Youree had given me and I was ready for it. It never seemed to be a problem at the time. I became extremely close with both teams, as close as I have ever been I believe. Both teams were giving tremendous effort and I have remained close friends with many of them to this day.
The 82-83 Lady Roughriders went 25-5 and won the Region 1 championship, beating Central in the final. Maybe that doesn’t mean a lot to the readers today, but Central was coached by Lin Laursen, who won 30 ACCAC conference championships, including 21 in a row. She is in the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame and was as fierce as competitor as I have ever known. The year we beat her, she was named the NJCAA Coach of the Year, and according to a Sports Illustrated article about her, was in Las Vegas drowning her sorrows after our loss when she got the news. They had us by eight at the half, but we came in and said if we do not allow any transition baskets in the second half, we will win. We allowed zero and won 63-55.
We drew Roxbury, Massachusetts in the first round game of the national tournament- a team that was ranked #2 in the nation. I knew nothing about them and so called coaches up in their area to get as much information as I could. Film was impossible to get for women’s teams in those days, so I had to go on what coaches were saying. Everyone said “they run”. I said “what do they do when they don’t run?” Everyone said “they run”. They had a great All-American point guard who played just about all the time. She was a great penetrator, which went to the heart of what our defensive philosophy was all about- so were going to be tested. Because “they run”, they were also leading the nation in points scored per game, at around 88. There was a shot clock for women in those days- way before the men- and it was 30 seconds. I adapted to it well and didn’t need to have years of training to figure out that it actually favored good defense. What I mean is if you can get the other team down to the “red zone”, seven seconds or less, then someone is going to have to try and make a play- which usually involves driving. For us, driving meant help, which meant charges. Against Roxbury, we took twelve charges- six by our All-American guard, Julie Hanks. Their point guard only played 12 minutes, because she kept running people over and was in foul trouble. We got back like we did against Central and didn’t allow them to run. Final score- Yavapai 80 Roxbury 56. From watching the other games in the tournament, it looked to me like we had a real shot at winning it all.
Our quarterfinal game was against DeKalb, Georgia. They were also a pressing, running team, and for 35 minutes we were in complete control. We were playing magnificent defense and were up 52-39 with just over 5 minutes left. Then DeKalb started fouling. We missed eleven free throws in a row- it was unbelievable. Even our very best shooters missed. We didn’t score another point and lost 53-52 on a last second shot from the top of the key- the buzzer went off as the ball went through. It was stunning and I was as sad as I have ever been- sad because we lost and extra sad because that team was so much fun to coach. We would never be together again. The national tournament was in Senatobia, Mississippi, but we were staying in Memphis, which was about 50 miles away. We were stuck there for an extra few days, because our plane tickets took us through the day after the tournament. The ladies put a suicide watch on my room, because they thought I was going to end it all after that defeat.
Later that spring, Dave Brown took off to NAU to become the head women’s coach there. He left me behind to take over as the women’s coach at Yavapai- he made sure they hired me before he left, which was a nice gesture on his part. He took the cream of our freshmen with him, which is understandable because he had recruited them and they were big time D1 prospects. That meant that I had to scramble to recruit, but we did OK. The next year, we played Central in the championship game of the Pima College tournament and beat them- meaning we had beat them twice in a row, which I am pretty certain was never repeated by anyone. I remember looking down at Lin near the end of the game and she was looking back at me like “what the hell’s going on here?” She was as tough as there was and would eventually beat us in the Region 1 championship game up in St. George, Utah later that year. We ended up 22-7. The year after that, we were 20-8, but beaten in the region semi-finals by Cochise.
So, with a shot clock and all, I ended my Yavapai women’s career at 67-20. I knew at the end of the third year that I didn’t really want to be a women’s coach- no offense to the ladies. It was just not what I wanted to do, but thanks to the Universe, was sure glad I got the opportunity when I did to do it. We loved Prescott, particularly Groom Creek, and my wife had gotten a position at the Hassayampa Hotel there in town that was a great opportunity. But she has always been very supportive of my career and knew that it was time to move on. We made plans to move back to the Valley and see what we could find.
Again, the camps I had worked in Prescott led to another opportunity. I had met Bill Farrell at one of them, who was the coach at Paradise Valley High School. He and I talked late in the spring of ’85, and I told him that I didn’t want to be a women’s coach and that I was moving back to the Phoenix area. Eventually, he got me on at his high school as a teacher in the Social Studies department (dual major, right?), and I would help him with the basketball team. So, I had gone from a private high school, to a community college, and now to a public high school.
For those of you who have been reading these blogs, I am going through this history to let you know that I love basketball and have been around the block a few times when it comes to playing and coaching. Because I am doing this, I have kind of been taking stock of my own career in a way that I don’t normally do. For example, I was outside working on the lawn today and remembered that I had written in a previous blog that I had 18 years of college coaching experience. That’s a lot- and I never really thought of myself that way. I have had 25 years of high school coaching experience. That’s 43 years- an unbelievable number for me to ponder. I have served 6 as an assistant and 37 as a head coach. If you have any thing to add, any questions, and stories of your own- please do not hesitate.
Next…Trojans…
