Life of a Basketball Coach in Indiana

Monday, April 1, 2019

Surreal is an adjective having the qualities of surrealism, bizarre. It is synonymous with unreal, unusual, weird, strange, freakish, unearthly, dreamlike.

I have had a few surreal moments in my life, my wedding vows with my wife, the birth of our children and surviving an EF-4 tornado while in the school at Henryville H.S. are the ones that stand out the most for me.

But being an assistant coach of a state championship basketball team is right up there with "why me?"

How did I get here? And why is it that big of a deal to me?

As a little boy, I would get Hoosier Basketball magazine (there was no Internet to get information from) and I would almost memorize all of the information in the magazine. I learned who the top teams in the state were and the top players.

Being from Henryville, a small town in southern Indiana, we didn't have those types of teams and those types of players. But we did have some really good teams and some really good players and they were who I idolized, who I was in awe of.

So growing up, I wanted to be a Henryville basketball player, and I would put a metal hanger in the top of my door, wad up a sock and tape it up and I would be just that, a Henryville basketball player. I would make up a schedule of all the top teams in that magazine and we would go undefeated and win the state championship.

As I grew up, I had a basketball goal that my dad made for me from old lumber of a house he tore down. The rim eventually broke, but was functional, and I had no concrete to dribble, yet I did. I played on that grass until it was worn away and I would play on it in dry summer, wet spring, or snow covered winter and I would play games there just like in my room and would win the state championship.

I have coached for 28 years of high school basketball helping in one way or another, but after being the head coach at Henryville and not having the success I wanted, I chose on my own, to step down.

The tornado changed my thinking about a lot of things, but my children attend Silver Creek schools, and I decided that I wanted to help the SC boys basketball program if Coach Hoffman would have me, and he did.

My first year helping, we won the sectional and the emotional feeling was unbelievable. From the celebration after to the send off for regional, it is hard to explain other than I was elated. That first year, it was Mark Rieger, Coach Hoffman, Robert Briscoe and myself.

The next year we won again and Coach Whitlock was back as JV coach after one year away and Neil Coffman started sitting on the bench with us.

We won 4 sectionals, but could not get past the regional...until this year.

Last year Joe Campbell was added to the staff.

Before I go into this season, everyone who reads this should understand that we have some really good men/ human beings as basketball coaches at Silver Creek. I would not want my son to play for any other group than these men.

Then this season started, and we were good, but I am not sure I understood how good we were.

We won a lot of games.

We won the sectional.

We won the regional and it was just like that first year winning the sectional, an elated high of accomplishing something special.

Then we won the semi-state in an emotional, hard fought game...and I cannot put into words how happy I was. We were actually going to play for a state championship in Banker's Life in Indianapolis.

Then we won the state championship.

And it is surreal, even now over a month later, it feels weird, bizarre, strange.

Doing that is something that I have such high reverence for that as a little kid I had these wild dreams I would be a part of it some day.

But as you age, those dreams tend to die or fade away as each year passes and it doesn't happen, it seems too impossible.

Then it happens.

All I can think is why do I get to experience this? And how am I supposed to act or feel?

But it has made me so thankful.

It has made me thankful for my parents and wife and kids who get to experience this by watching or through me as I experience it.

It has made me thankful for all the fans of our team who were there those weeks in large numbers and supported us.

It has made me thankful for all the people on social media who have reached out or shared their thoughts and pictures.

It has made me thankful of my friends, acquaintances, former players, family, and total strangers who have reached out or stopped me and congratulated me.

It has made me even more thankful to be working at a school that expects excellence with coaches, not just in boys basketball, but all sports that expect to win.

It has made me thankful to work with men like Mark Rieger, George Gerth, Joe Campbell, Jesse Whitlock, Neil Coffman and Head Coach Brandon Hoffman who all share similar beliefs, values and ideas when it comes to life and coaching.

Finally, it has made me thankful that the little boy playing in his room and on that old grass court who wanted to win a state championship and got to finally live out his dream.

But for my two children, it's not something that is so far away that they cannot fathom it ever happening to them.

They know it can because they've seen it happen to their school, their team and to their dad.

My unreachable dream as a child, has become a possibility to my own children. It is not something out of reach, but something that can be experienced, because they have.

Wednesday, March 13, 2019

Kids...(sigh)

I love people.

I love my parents.

I love my other family members.

I love friends and my students.

I love my wife.

Each of these groups have a different type of love, some more deep than others and some in ways I cannot explain.

But my kids...(sigh)...I love them in a way that is hard to explain and even comprehend.

Sure, they can drive me crazy, but I would not hesitate to give my life for them and if something were to happen, it would not be a good thing...at all.

Why is it that we live our lives with our children like they are going to be little forever?

Like they will listen to our words forever?

Like they will respect and do what we want forever?

The bottom line is that we have a very short time to prepare them for the world.

They are born and it is probably around 3 or 4 when they begin to understand a little bit of life, and we probably have them until they are 14 or 15 if we are lucky.

So you about a decade to love your children and teach them to avoid the obstacles, pot holes, and land mines of this world.

You have about a decade to help guide them and teach them how to bounce back from the inevitable failures they will encounter either by them or the people they love.

You have about a decade to love them in a way that they will know when they face an obstacle, a pot hole or a land mine, they can return to you to have their backs.

If you do a decent job, you will have them around for longer than 0-18 years.

But never, ever take for granted hugging them, kissing them, and telling them you love them.

They may not get it or completely understand until they are older, but love them and they will love you back.