Basketball...it really is just a game...

When I was younger, like little kid young, I competed so hard and wanted to win. Winning was the only thing as far as I was concerned. That and personal success. I was trying to draw the attention of others and it helped to boost my self-esteem when I did well or we won.

Then when I started coaching, I coached every game like it was the State Championship, still do. If we won, I felt that is what you are supposed to do, and if we lost...it felt like someone kicked me in the gut.

Then four years ago, we had our daughter, and...well, it really is just a game. I still coach and work to the best of my abilities because it is the right thing to do and that is how I am programmed, but if we win, it's a good night. And if we lose? Well, it still isn't good, but when I look at my two kids, losing is much more bearable.

We lost a close game in the State Tournament this past March, and I was disappointed. More so for the guys. We lost by 1 point to a team who we had beaten twice during the season in very close games. I felt that I had let them down, but hey...it isn't death. Then my daughter came to see me (son too young yet to know what is going on) and she was distraught. I mean as bad as I cried in my last game as a high school basketball player. Suddenly, tears welled up in my eyes for her and not for me....it really is just a game.

Now some of our closest friends are dealing with an illness to a loved one. And to be honest, it doesn't look good. This person is a Henryville icon, a person that when you mention the town, you mention McKee Munk, Tom Murphy, Steve Price, and others. McKee has had a rich life from being a son, nephew, basketball player, husband, school bus driver, auto dealer, insurance salesman, father, grandfather, great grandfather, gentleman, and confidant....it really is just a game.

No matter what happens between now and November, it doesn't look like he will be physically able to attend games this winter, and to be honest, I don't know when it was the last time he missed a game, needless to say a season. My family hopes and prays for him and his family. May God do his will and keep him pain free....it really is just a game.

Sometimes when people die they leave behind little or no legacy, but it will not be the case in this situation. What he leaves behind is something that will last generations in his family, and his influence will last for generations with those that were close to him....it really is just a game.

The world will be a lesser place without him, and he will not be forgotten.

Preparing to Prepare

Every season brings its little details that must be done for things to move as smoothly as possible.

1. Check over the volleyball schedule and other events that may coincide with elementary intramurals. (1 hr.)

2. Schedule elementary intramurals. (1 hr.)

3. Schedule open gym and conditioning. (1 hr.)

4. Schedule practice, games, and times to arrive at the gym or when the bus leaves. (1 hr.)

5. Order new practice gear. (1 hr.)

6. Maintain gym floor. (multiple hrs.)

7. Get new camcorder. (1 hr.)

8. Have game shorts restrung. (2 hrs.)

9. Check for fall coaching clinics. (1 hr.)

10. Keep in communication with the players. (multiple hrs.)

11. Inform players on possible showcases for potential future playing basketball in college.

12. Inform players of all star games they may participate in.

13. Clean/disinfect everything in basketball program. (multiple hrs.)

14. Clean up office. (1 hr.)

15. Look over standards and change if necessary. (1 hr.)

16. Settle on coaching staff 7-12. (multiple hrs.)

17. Work on scouting schedule for this winter. (multiple hrs.)

18. Order travel suits. (1 hr.)

19. Order game day t-shirts and intramural t-shirts. (1 hr.)

20. Meet with coaches on expectations for season.

21. Make up schedule for Henryville Inv. Tournament.

22. Double check list...and keep double checking thru the season......

Together Everyone Achieves More

Putting a team together is not an easy thing. When you think about all of the peripheral issues that are dealt with during a basketball season, it is sometimes amazing that teenage boys will come together like we did last winter and win some games.

Players: The coach tries to get the players to buy into the "team" concept. That sometimes is hard because we are inherently selfish, and it is something we try to preach all the time, that the individual actually gets more attention by giving up some of their skills, or more importantly, their wants.

They are listening to their coaches, their parents, their relatives, their girlfriends, their friends at school. They worry about their name in the paper, if a teammates name is in the paper, if somebody on the team doesn't like them for someone reason (i.e. girls). Players have to buy into what the team needs all the while hearing things constantly that may go against that.

Coaches: The coach has to deal with different personalities. Some selfish, some not, some indifferent...and that is just the parents. The players can be emotional before they ever step on a court and with competition those emotions get ratcheted up a notch or two.

When you have supportive parents, which I feel that we have, and the players buy into the team concept it makes the coaching job so much easier.

What is amazing is that in some situations what is going on elsewhere through conversations is not making your job easier as a coach and yet players still listen to the coach and desire for the team to be successful.

Rarely, are you going to see 5 individuals be successful. It's too bad that not everyone on the perphery can appreciate the lack of bad shots, the ability to pass the ball, the ability to lead in other ways than scoring. 5 individuals cannot win, but acting together they are tough to beat.

I wish that ESPN would play highlights of defense, of great and good passes, and players diving on the ball...but I guess it is the nature of the beast. These influences, however, are yet one last thing that affects basketball players and their ability to perform as a "team".

If you can wade through the peripheral, the team buys in, the team performs, and the team wins/loses together; then individuals will get a lot of attention.

Microwave Society

(1950-51 McKee Munk 3rd from left, front row)
U of L men's coach coined this term, microwave society, recently. He was trying to explain that in today's world, what you do right now will be old news by.....tonight! We live in such an instant gratification society that few people get the respect or recognition they have earned over a long period of time. Many people forget history.

How many times have we heard at HHS that this is the "first time in school history"? I know I have been guilty of it, but there are a couple things wrong with this, most people don't know the full history of HHS because they are unaware, or it hasn't been written down somewhere for us to access. Some things are easy like first basketball sectional title (94 girls), first boys' and baseball title (99), first boys' basketball sectional title (04), those are easy. But what about some of the teams and players that came before us? I will use basketball as an example because I know about as much about it as anything, but I don't know everything.

Henryville is one of the few schools with undefeated regular seasons. In 1945 and 1946, the Hornets won 38 consecutive regular season games being defeated both years in the first game of the sectional. I need to research the '47 season to see how many they may have won in a row during that stretch.

How many can name more than 4 coaches from HHS? Most get me, Jack Brooks, John Bradley and Herman Furnish because they are the most recent and who the gym is named after, but after than unless you played for them, you can't name a few others. Kermit Spurgeon was not a coach, but a player. I am sure someone can tell me the significance of why the gym was named after him.

Herman Furnish won 160 games at Henryville. But did you know that in 1941, he coached the first half of the season at Borden before moving to Henryville to finish out the year? Coach Jim Huter had an impressive run at HHS with his best record occurring in 1963 at 19-3 and one of the few conference championships ever at HHS with the Dixie Athletic Conference. But Coach Huter left HHS with 103 wins and went on to win 2 state Kentucky state championships in basketball at Male High School in Louisville.

Wes Porter coached here then moved on to Borden where in 1980 he had a really good team that almost beat Floyd Central in the one class sectional. Phil Schroer coached at HHS then moved on to Providence H.S. and then to Arizona where he has been inducted into the Arizona athletic hall of fame.

Denny Doutaz and Dennis Holt did good jobs at HHS then went on to build programs who after they left became really good; Doutaz at Forest Park and Holt at Paoli. Terry Rademacher led the Borden girls' program to multiple sectional championships. John Laskowski's brother Tom was one of the first recruits for Bob Knight at IU. John Bradley has successfully guided the rocky path to coach long tenures at rivals HHS and Silver Creek, and Jack Brooks was the first (if I am correct here) HHS alumnae/basketball player to come back and coach his alma mater leading the Hornets to their first sectional victory in 2004.

Player wise, Ralph Guthrie is considered to be one of the best players ever at HHS. He went to IU and played on the freshman team and was told he would have a spot on the varsity by Branch McCracken but came home to Henryville. Shane Meadows is the all-time leading scorer, before him was Greg Robertson. Before him for many years was McKee Munk.

McKee Munk has driven the bus for many years and hasn't missed too many games since his playing days. McKee is the grandfather of recent players Cody and Cory Munk and the father of the 70's great Jay Munk. McKee's father played at HHS also making Cory and Cody a rarity at any school. They were 4th generation basketball players for the same school of the same gender.

My favorite players growing up were Roger and Robin Embry. Roger because of the triple-doubles and Robin because of the swagger. They played during a resurgence of basketball at HHS. In 1980, HHS won two sectional games and were the first games they had won in the postseason since 1963. In 1981, they lead HHS to a regular season record of 17-3 and lost in the first round at Madison to Madison in overtime. Then in '82, Robin's senior year team made it to the sectional championship before bowing to Silver Creek. Take in the '84 team who had Jack Brooks and my '88 team who beat Borden, and we won about as many sectional games in that decade as any other decade during the 1 class era.

I looked at the pictures that I have one time and found only one season in which there wasn't one player from the previous season on the next season's team. Meaning that other than that one year, you can look at a team's seniors and they have played with the seniors 3 years previous. There is a line that runs from each class that is unbroken except that one time all the way back to 1938, I believe.

So, it is important, and I don't know if it is because I am a history teacher, to remember the past. The HHS basketball program was here before us, it has had it's periods of success and failures, but each person, each team worked to be the very best they could be.

There are many more stories for boys' basketball, but each sport has it's own rich history. If you would ever love to write them down and send them to me, please do not hesitate, they will be taken care of and kept for future generations.

Standards....Do We Really Have Any Anymore?

Anytime you are in charge of a large group of people that represent more than just themselves, you must have rules. That word for me has changed over the years from "rules" to "guidelines" to now I am changing them yet again...."standards". Standards sounds more cooperative "for us" than me mandating "rules" on them. Also, I like to get feedback on some of the standards we have, some of them are unbending and I will be firm in resolve with them.

I believe that HHS basketball players will be and should be held to a higher standard. So our standards are used to make sure they reach that higher standard. When it comes to enforcing standards there are a couple of things I like to tell the players. Discipline yourself and others will not have to, and if you think that if I were to catch, see, or know about it and you might think I wouldn't like it, you might want to rethink doing it. For that split moment, they need to think ab0ut the reprucussion of that action.

Some of the standards that we like are included in a paper that the player and their parent will sign. I want everyone to know what my/our expectations are.

1. I will wear a white dress shirt, tie, dress pants, dress shoes, or approved attire by the coaching staff to games...We and they represent more than ourselves. They represent me, their school, the community, and many eyes are looking at them. They need to be dressed appropriately.

2. I will ride the bust to and from games during the season....a couple things on this, as per contract, I am responsible for the players to and back from the games. It is in its basics a liability issue for me. Also, when we win everyone wants to be together, but when you lose, you like to ride home with your parents and girlfriend and go out to eat and be consoled. I feel that we need to share in that moment as much as the joy of winning. That is when teams are built.

3. I will not allow my girlfriend to sit with me during any playing of games....the players need to be focused, period. Also, I have had people comment how bad it looks if kids are hanging on each other, and it is not a perception I want of my program.

4. I will get to class/school on time...this is a problem for all students, and seems that it should be a simple thing to follow, but it isn't. Our lax society has allowed for it to be okay to be a little late here and there, and I cannot stand it. I believe if you want to be a disciplined participant of society, you need to be on time.

5. I will stay out of trouble at school, I will stay in class, I will not make out with my girlfriend at school or games, I will be at school, I will try to do my best in school, I will stay out of trouble at school....believe it or not, every single standard on this list is something that has been dealt with in the past. We want to make sure that if we deal with it during the season, they have heard and agreed these are important standards.

6. I will not leave school early unless for a specific, excused reason. I will notify the coaching staff if I do leave early...this is a respect issue. We have practice, we have something else scheduled, I need to know if they are not going to be there. Plus, we may have to change some things up in practice if somebody gets ill or cannot be at practice.

7. I/We understand that the coaching staff reserves the right to deal with any unmentioned problems in the future at their discretion and within reason....this is to cover us in case something comes up we don't expect. We need to have the flexbility to make sure our players are living up to standards and not the lowest of the low either.

8. School standards: Must pass 5 solid classes, West Clark drug/alcohol policy....these are corporation mandated standards.

9. Haircuts should be above the collar, off the ears and above the eyebrows. No extreme sideburns, hair color or haircuts, no facial hair, no earrings during the season at any time, no visible tattoos during games...these are all perception things for the program. Call me old school, but I believe these are important standards because remember, the players are representing more than just themselves. They represent me, the student body, and the little old lady in row 22.

10. If you are late, you will run. If you miss, you will not start/play...this is also a respect issue. Respect the coaches, respect your teammates, and respect the game especially as it is played in Indiana.

11. Detentions should not happen and there is no policy, but if they ever get out of hand, there will be one implemented. And it will require circumstances so that it never happens again.

12. In school suspension=100 wall to walls for each day and suspension for 1/2 game for each day of ISS. On the 2nd separate ocassion, you will be removed from the team....perception and being held to a higher standard. I believe in second chances, but after that you will find something else to do other than basketball at HHS.

13. Out of school suspension=100 wall to walls for each day and suspended as many games as your OSS lasts. (Suspended for 3 days=300 wall to walls and 3 game suspension.) On the second separate OSS, you will be removed from the team....I have very little tolerance for out of school suspensions.

14. If any teacher talks to me about your behavior in school, the first time I will conference with you, the second time running will be involved.

It seems like more written out than it really is. Believe me, if they are decent human beings, players can go through four years of high school basketball at HHS and never have a problem with me. Disciplining players is one of the things I dislike about coaching, but is a necessary evil. Hopefully, our standards are things that they can carry over into their lives after school.

Loyalty.......

Does loyalty still exist? It is something that cannot be forced on someone or asked from someone, but it is a tangible that still exists for me. This is my blog, and I think that by getting some of my thoughts and beliefs in writing, it will help me understand me, but also help others on my insights.

My loyalty to my staff is that they are welcome to coach at HHS while I am there unless they are cancerous to the program. We have had assistants who yell, some who don't, some who use negative reinforcement, some who use positive and most of them do all of the above at any given time. I am far from perfect and often feel hypocritical when ever speaking with one of them about improving because I have done every stupid thing you can imagine in 18 years of coaching basketball. I try to take care of them with free Henryville basketball shirts/jackets, or at least discounted shoes for the season. I want them to feel that they are important to me and the program. I appreciate their time, effort and loyalty.

One of the things that I have tried to improve upon is showing more loyalty to the staff and administration. Not that I am out talking about everything that goes on, but there is a level of gossip that goes on with any position. I realize that my position is one which there tends to have a higher level of complaints, comparison, just plain communication about my job. I may speak about concerns with faculty or administration, but it is usually with a small group of my tight friends. I do it to air frustrations and to ask for advice, but even that needs to be cut back. I try to show loyalty to the staff by attending some of their events so they can know I appreciate the extra time and effort they put in for our school to strive.

I show loyalty to my players. One example is, I feel, that if you play basketball at Henryville from 5th grade all the way to your senior year, you should not be cut. As I have written before, fewer and fewer players stay with basketball for that amount of time. I believe that if a kid shows that kind of dedication, it demands to be rewarded. I have had this discussion with some who disagree, that by keeping seniors who might not play, who might not help it is taking away a space or time from a younger player who will help in the future. Maybe one day we will have the luxury to cut players because we have so many trying to play, but when we have 15-25 total guys trying to play, cuts should be one of the last things we do. However, if you have never played and try to play your junior or especially senior year, I feel you had better be pretty darn good, or you will be told to try something else in the winter.

I show loyalty to my players by trying to be consistent in upholding our team standards. By not doing so would show a disrespect to them that will only cheat them in the future. They may not understand that at the present moment, but it is a delayed reward. One that many players of the past have come and thanked me and the coaching staff for teaching them tough lessons, lessons not understood by 17 year olds, but is by 22 year olds.

I show loyalty to my players, and I have had many disagree with this, in that the older guys get the shot to play and contribute before the younger guys. Unless you are just an amazing talent at a young age, the older guys will get the first shot to win games for HHS. If they cannot get it done, I think it is fair to then give the younger players their chance. This idea goes back to the whole playing since 5th grade. If you are on the team, and considered one of the top 7-9 players, you should be given your shot because you have earned it. How long that shot is given depends on the back up players. If they are minimally talented, their shot may last longer, if they are highly talented, your shot may last a much shorter amount of time.

I hope I show loyalty to my former players in that each and every one of them who plays their senior year and graduates is welcome at any point to come to practice. They are welcome at any point to come into the locker room after a game to my office. They are welcome and will have an access that the casual fan does not have. I want to know how they are doing, are they succeeding, if not, why? What can I do to help?

I show loyalty to companies who have given us a good deal with the basketball program. Whether it is with shoes, travel suits, t-shirts, or anything we have bought to improve our program, I will go to them more often than not even if they raise their price a little higher than a competitor. Some would say that is stupid, but I have found it ensures more cooperation if something doesn't work out.

Loyalty, I show it with basketball and I show it with life. I know that I fall short in some of the things I have written about, but know that I do try to be better. I try to live up to these guidelines and standards because they are just that. Something to strive for. If you know everything or are the greatest at any endeavor, why try to improve? Many people who are the greatest in coaching basketball or in playing basketball still strive to improve. That proves to me that there is always something to learn, or improve upon.