Girls basketball coaches feeling more pressure now?

New MACA girls coach: Justin Daly

An interesting effect of the Caitlin Clark phenomenon: girls basketball coaches across the U.S. are going to start feeling more pressure to win. Seems the Iowa team has greatly elevated our consciousness about the female version of the game. Man, these kids can really play! Girls sports advocates would have proclaimed that all along. 

For many of us, we went through a progression in our thinking: it was a novelty at first, maybe just a political sort of "sop" to affirm equality! But could girls basketball be taken seriously? In the earliest days there had to be skeptics. There had to be, for the simple reason that girls did not have a background playing sports. 

It is astonishing to reflect back on now. 

Girls basketball was like "The Little Engine That Could." "I think I can" was the message for a while. Confidence and optimism would only ratchet up. There was no other direction for it to go. I remember talking to the late Dave Leuthard who refereed the earliest girls high school games. He said "you have to call traveling every time, otherwise they'll never learn." 

The fouls could be a drag for fan enjoyment. They'd also make the girls look like they were struggling. And from the viewpoint of fans who watched a lot of the men's/boys games at a high level, well to be frank, the girls out there would look a little forlorn. But hey, they did not have the background! They were rising up from virtually nothing! Can you believe? 

 

Out of yesteryear

I am 69 years old and well positioned to understand. I attended my 50-year high school reunion this past summer. Morris High School Class of 1973. I was delighted to see Paul Fevold for the first time since we graduated! I was surprised at how many of my classmates acted so happy to see me. I did not think I warranted that. But this is a subject for another time. I bring up Ms. Fevold whose married name I did not learn if she has one, because she was a pioneer. 

I remember our team wore all-red uniforms. They looked like jumpsuits. Paula was a tall girl, most suited. 

Probably the biggest early pioneer here was Leatrice Tomoson. She graduated a year before me and Paula. Leatrice was what boys of the time might call a "tomboy." Has that term been retired as politically incorrect? Ah, the days when girls were associated with "home ec." How could our culture change so much? To go through a "sea change?" 

And regarding Caitlin Clark of the Iowa Hawkeyes, I think many of us might want to reason "only in America." A girl from West Des Moines Iowa! Catapulting herself right to the forefront of our attention, our culture. The catalyst for women's/girls basketball taking its last step to being on totally even footing with the men! "Only in America." We could not have predicted this or mapped it out. 

 

Coach on same page

Serendipity is always a part of such things. The little group I sometimes join at McDonald's at around 3 p.m. was talking yesterday. We felt that Clark was so lucky even having a coach that allowed her to take such long shots. The coach is in charge. Maybe the coach would not have wanted one player to stand out so much, even if the player was supremely talented. Maybe "distribute the shots" more. 

After all, the coach has the very hard work of recruiting top players, so the coach would want the parents to feel confident their kids would gain notice with their talents. Don't you think? But Clark's teammates were "good" with Clark as the superhero. They were happy being complementary. And it's not as if they didn't do exciting things often. Kate Martin has declared for the WNBA. Man I wish her well. 

Clark often showed her other-worldly talent with assists. Assists mean that other players will get the baskets. I wonder what the other Hawkeyes thought the first 2-3 times that Clark attempted her "logo 3's." Yes, shots taken from where the logo is painted at the center of the court. Freakish! But my, this has become total highlight reel stuff. For the ages. Those along with Clark's incredible long-range buzzer-beaters. 

What I just cited transcend her basic "stats." The stats are awesome enough to begin with. 

So now that the long season's road is done, we're going to see high school basketball taken even more seriously everywhere! So yes, in Morris, we'll see standards elevated for our MACA girls program. There's going to be a new coach. 

 

Lots of luck Mr. Henrich

Regarding the departing one, I will say that Dale was always a nice and cooperative guy around me. I of course wrote sports for the local media for many years. Many people might view me as a fossil now. I'd swear I can still do it. I weathered the 1980s which were kind of a cesspool for our school for extracurricular and really for everything. I have constantly maintained that the problem was an underlying cultural one. The "teachers" had their own ideas. For some reason, those above them held back for a long time. Things got ossified. 

And then finally the community sort of came apart at the seams back around 1988. In the wake of that, there was doubt lingering about whether we'd see a turnaround. Eventually things did get turned around but in a halting sort of way at times. 

Unfortunately the girls basketball team has been underachieving over the recent past, I'd argue. I see a nice action photo of Kaylee Harstad in the current Morris fishwrap. I look at that picture and think "how could a team with her lose in the first round of the tournament? How could it get killed by Minnewaska? Why?" 

And of course I've been pilloried for years in this community for making observations like this. The teachers have given meaning to the word "disingenuous." They plead to us about how "sports" is secondary to "academics" as if we're supposed to feel some embarrassment about sports interest. But hey, the teachers will cry "bloody murder" over the possibility of a simple coaching change being made. Wait, I thought sports was relatively unimportant. 

Really, what we've seen is a social group getting formed around sports with members watching each other's back. They might go to the same church - you ought to know the routine well. 

Well, good luck Dale for the rest of your education career. The guy has coached cross country too. He has always been an able hand in athletics. He's famous for being tall! Hey, if you're tall you must be a good basketball coach, right? I could swear we have had school boards that thought this way. Morris has gone after the likes of Andy Papke, Roger Schnaser, Darcy Winkelman and then Henrich. All very, very tall. And none of them exactly set the world on fire with coaching, did they. 

I personally have never felt height gave anyone an advantage for being a basketball coach. But people have never assigned much credibility to yours truly. 

 

I used to work with Cate's grandmother Janet.

Welcome Justin!

Well, good luck to the new girls hoops coach who I learn is Justin Daly. 

I used to work with Paul Daly when he was in charge of the Chokio-Alberta boys. A connection? My generation is fading while all these new guys are coming along. You just watch, though: give me a chance with some info and I can still supply top-notch coverage. Hope I get a chance. I will never lose enthusiasm, I swear. 

 

And in addendum

Closing thoughts: I would never want to play one-on-one against Kaylee Harstad! She is my occasional server at DeToy's Restaurant on Saturday mornings. We discussed the Iowa Hawkeyes quite a bit coming down the closing stretch of the season. 

I recall Paul Daly as being a very pleasant guy to work with. I remember sometimes trying to reach him on weekends and he'd be ice fishing! Not my cup of tea, ice fishing, but to each their own. C-A had some nice teams under Daly. I remember going to Alexandria to photograph a game. Remember the Spartans! 

I see Neal Hofland in the morning sometimes at DeToy's. He still coaches at the assistant level with MACA. I often remind him of the famous "toss-sweep" play of the Spartans when he led the football squad. 

Now we have boys soccer coming to MACA. Soccer has been around a long time so why now? Well any time is a good time. Let's draw some boys away from the dangerous game of football. If the boys themselves don't make the decision, maybe their parents will. Kids feel the "invulnerability of youth." 

MACA has a head coach with the last name Pope, a guy who has chosen to be antagonistic toward our school board on behalf of the teachers. So the sooner his program dies off, the better IMHO. I view teachers unions as being a lot like organized crime.

- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com