By KEVIN HARRIS
Kevin.Harris@newsandtribune.com
> SOUTHERN INDIANA —
For years, summer meant a break for high school basketball coaches throughout the state of Indiana.
Coaches had a chance to spend time with their families, catch up on the chores around the house and to simply relax.
But in the summer of 2002, that all changed.
That was the first year that the IHSAA allowed coaches in all sports to mentor their players during the offseason without restrictions.
Coaches could create summer teams and play as many games as they want. They could lead their players in practices and conditioning sessions.
Almost every high school athletic program in the state has taken advantage of this rule for the past eight years, and that is especially the case with high school boys’ and girls’ basketball teams.
In the meantime, coaching high school hoops in Indiana has turned into a year-round job rather than one you just do in the wintertime.
“No question, it’s different than it was 20-30 years ago. It seems that you have things constantly going on,” New Albany head boys’ basketball coach Jim Shannon said. “The job takes a lot of time anymore, but it’s a lot of fun. To have a great program, you have to put in the time.”
Providence head boys’ coach Lou Lefevre, who has coached in states like Georgia and Texas that have similar rules as Indiana, says working with players during the summer is a positive thing.
“The only state I’ve coached in that didn’t have the exact same rules that Indiana has nowadays was Connecticut. You couldn’t have any contact with your team in the summer,” said Lefevre, who will be entering his 23rd season as a high school basketball coach in the upcoming school year. “There, the kids had plenty of time to be kids as they say. But I found that the kids often had too much free time. They often got themselves in trouble and I often was afraid to open the local newspaper in the summer because I would find the students’ names in the police blotter far too often.
“When I started coaching in Atlanta when they allowed summer contact with your team, I thought it was a great thing. When kids are engaged with their team and interacting with their coaches, they tend to stay focused on being a serious athlete rather than getting involved with some unsavory types of activities that would get them into trouble.”
With the competition as formidable as ever in Indiana prep hoops, boys’ and girls’ teams have no choice but to work on their games during the summer.
If coaches and players do not take their summer programs seriously, most likely they will be behind the eight-ball once the season begins in November. Boys’ and girls’ squads get only two to three weeks of practice in October and November before their first game, so summer work becomes even more crucial.
“If you do not get a lot done in the summer, those two weeks are more difficult,” Charlestown head boys’ coach Sean Smith said. “If you don’t do it, someone else is. You have to put in the time to be any good.”
JUNE IS A CRAZY MONTH
Once school is out in early June, basketball coaches are inundated with practices, games and conditioning sessions for the entire month. During that time, coaches primarily work on improving their players’ skills. They also implement possible lineup combinations to see which players can work well together during game situations.
Along with leading their teams on the court, most coaches travel with their teams on weekends to compete in summer tournaments. On top of that, some coaches conduct basketball camps for youngsters in their respective communities during June to hone their skills.
Shannon estimated he worked more than 200 hours last month on his basketball program. The Bulldogs played in a summer league two to three times a week against Louisville schools. They also played in two weekend tournaments, which were at Purdue University and in Indianapolis.
“In essence, you get pretty busy during the season. But no month is busier than June,” said Shannon, who completed his 26th season as an Indiana high school coach and his 12th at New Albany last winter. “Basically, June is the busiest month of the year and you’re not even in school teaching seven hours a day. You’re sure as heck not at home.”
Smith agrees with Shannon about the month of June. During the 2007 offseason, Smith said his squad played 40 games during the summer, the majority of which were in June. That team went on to win a Class 3A sectional championship the following March.
“June is a blur — it’s the fastest month of the year,” Smith said. “It’s definitely the busiest month. The next busiest month is the first month of the season. But it doesn’t compare to the month of June.”
Even though June can be an extremely hectic month for a coach, Lefevre still believes the busiest time of the year for basketball coaches is the regular season and the state tournament.
“For me, the difficult time for a varsity basketball coach is during the season — not during the summer,” said Lefevre, who said coaches must juggle their teaching and coaching responsibilities each day during the season along with possibly scouting a game at night or breaking down game film. “Knowing that you’ll be working non-stop from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. and then have to do it all over again for every day of the week are the times when coaching gets difficult and the thoughts of quitting sometimes enter my mind.”
AVOIDING BURNOUT
A concern several coaches have when they begin their summer programs is for burnout to set in on their players, assistant coaches and themselves.
The challenge coaches face is to determine the limits on how much time should be spent on the court during the summer and how much leisure time they should get.
“It can be a grind,” Shannon said. “But I think you have to step away from it and the kids have to step away from it. You have to have that balance and it’s a difficult thing to do.”
Former Charlestown girls’ coach Tony Hall, who stepped down as the Pirates’ mentor after a 13-year tenure last season, always made a deal with his troops when the summer rolled around.
“I asked the players to try to give me everything they had in June. Then, July would be for vacation or getting ready for volleyball season,” said Hall, who estimated that his team averaged 30 games per summer when the new IHSAA summer rule went into effect in 2002.
Hall’s summer formula seemed to work as the Pirates won five sectional titles in his tenure and a regional championship in 2005.
“I didn’t want to get burned out. I didn’t want my assistant coaches and players to get burned out,” Hall said.
COACHES LEAVING DUE TO YEAR-ROUND NATURE
Hall still enjoys basketball and he still loves teaching young people the fundamentals and the strategy of the game.
But the year-round nature of the job was taking a toll on him. So last March, Hall announced his retirement.
“Yes, it was a major factor in that decision,” Hall said about the year-round duties of being a basketball coach. “I love coaching basketball, but I needed a break from carrying that baggage around. I needed to rest my back.
“I love it — I just needed a break. I needed to take some time away.”
Hall is not the only high school coach in the state to either resign or retire because of the year-round nature of the job.
One coach who recently retired because of that was Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame coach Basil Mawbey. The 67-year-old stepped down as the head boys’ coach at Indianapolis Broad Ripple on June 16, stating in an Indianapolis Star article that he was “coaching 24/7” anymore.
Mawbey told his players he was retiring after a summer league game the night before his official announcement. Mawbey, who coached only one season at Broad Ripple, compiled a 661-253 record and two state championships in 39 seasons.
Smith thinks the year-round duties of coaching high school basketball has played a huge role in several coaches throughout the state stepping down from their posts.
“I think it’s a big factor. We’ve seen that quite a bit,” Smith said. “Some get to the point that they get burned out. I think it’s definitely a factor.”
But Lefevre has a different perspective on the matter.
“Although you sometimes read that coaches who resign say that coaching year-round is the reason, 95 percent of the time the reason that is given publicly from a coach who is resigning is not the real reason,” Lefevre said. “In 95 percent of the cases, coaches are resigning because they are either being forced out or they are not getting any support from their administrations or they are getting harassed and undermined by parents.
“When a coach does resign even if the job appears to be an unattractive one, there are always plenty of people who are dying for the chance to take over as the head coach of that program. So there are plenty of people willing to put in the offseason time.
“I think part of the reason that the summer ball is often used as a reason by resigning coaches is because there is some resentment from older coaches who know they are nowadays expected to coach their team in the summer. But few school systems actually compensate the coach for their work in the summer.”
