Several area basketball coaches also juggle AD duties

With the high school basketball playoffs looming around the corner, coaches will spend more time watching film and preparing game plans in the hopes of bringing home a district championship.

For 10 of the area's boys basketball coaches at MSHSAA-member schools, preparing for games isn't the only thing on their schedules. Coaches who serve as athletic directors also have administrative duties such as preparing schedules, lining up referees and working out practice schedules.

"It takes a little away from both at this time of the season," Notre Dame athletic director and boys basketball coach Paul Hale said. "Here at Notre Dame, they help me out a lot, and this is what I have to do. I don't have to teach classes.

"For people who have to teach classes, I don't see how they do it."

Hale is the only area coach/athletic director at a school larger than Class 3. The Class 4 Bulldogs have three winter sports -- boys and girls basketball and boys swimming. Six spring sports are on deck.

"It is a big challenge, a big job," Hale said. "Sometimes you need to watch a film and sometimes a phone call comes up, or you have to prepare for something. It's a bit of a challenge. I enjoy the challenge."

A 12-hour day is not uncommon for many coaches juggling the problems of their own program and the school's sports program as a whole. Sometimes tough choices have to be made. There may be occasions when working on a spring schedule gets pushed off to another day or a film session gets cut in half.

Kelly boys basketball coach Cory Johnson also is the Class 3 school's athletic director and took over the baseball duties in 2004 when the previous coach was called for National Guard duty. (Chris Smith)

"That happens often," Kelly athletic director and basketball coach Cory Johnson said. "There's so many things that go on, such a full plate, sometimes you don't get to things."

While it would be easy to get selfish and put your team first, there is also a great sense of duty each athletic director feels toward their different sports programs.

"I will probably give up my practice before I'd give up a girls practice," St. Vincent athletic director and basketball coach Bruce Valleroy said. "I usually give before I take. I try to accommodate other sports first."

Athletic directors can help their own teams when it comes to scheduling. The wrong slate of opponents can put a team in a hole in a hurry or provide inadequadate preparation, and a coach who knows his team can make adjustments to the schedule when needed.

"From my point of view, I control what I want from a baseball and basketball aspect," said Johnson, who also is baseball coach at Kelly. "I can pick up who I need to."

Not all coaches/athletic directors seem to take advantage of their scheduling powers. Valleroy seems to give his team, a Class 2 state runner-up last year, a tough go at times.

"Here I am playing Notre Dame, North County and Kelly," he said with a laugh. "I know two years ago, out of my nine nonconference games, eight of them had 20 wins."

But he did push the start of this season into December, learning from the slow start last season when he had to wait on players involved in St. Vincent's state-championship football campaign.

With the many responsibilities of the AD, larger schools fill the role with an administrator who does not coach. That is the case at the area's three largest schools -- Jackson, Central and Perryville. Only two of schools in Class 3 or higher have coaches holding dual roles -- Notre Dame and Kelly.

"We're a midlevel school," Johnson said. "I'm sure it's a little more hectic at bigger schools, but you really have to stay connected with your other coaches.

"You've got to enjoy what you're doing, and I definitely do."

Added Valleroy: "When the season's over, you think, 'The season's over,' you can relax, but that's when the fun starts. There's never a dull moment all year-round."

Through all of the paperwork and administrative duties involved with being athletic director, there also are opportunities for networking. Coaching has its own sort of fraternity, and with athletic directors it is no different.

"It's good to work with people," Valleroy said. "I think the benefit is you get to work with other ADs, get friendships with them."

Added Johnson: "You get to build a lot of relationships with other ADs and coaches from other schools."

Along with building friendships, athletic directors also get to take a greater part in the progress of each sports team at their school. Athletic directors often attend home games, and will travel with teams in the playoffs. When another sport makes a big playoff run, the athletic director typically goes along for the ride. Kelly, St. Vincent and Notre Dame all have had final four teams in other sports during the last two years, with Kelly winning a state title in softball and St. Vincent claiming the football crown.

"That's another one of the benefits," Johnson said. "You feel you're a part of that. It's a pride from being so close to those programs."

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Basketball coaches/ADs

• Paul Hale, Notre Dame
• Brian Brandtner, Bell City
• David Heeb, Scott County Central
• Tom Brown, Meadow Heights
• John Martin, Oak Ridge
• Bruce Valleroy, St. Vincent
• Joe Shoemaker, Advance
• Shawn Kinder, Delta
• Cory Johnson, Kelly
• Jason Andrews, Oran