Mr. Basketball Ch. 16

They gave chase after me and did what I asked. As soon as they got done running I grabbed the ball and started the play again. I took the ball and passed it off to Jamie once more. I cut hard and varied the play just a little going behind Tessa this time and coming out the other side. Jamie passed it off to me as I popped out. Cali was still fighting through the screen as I drove to the hoop. She made it around Tessa just in time to see me leave my feet and dunk the ball over her.

"Bleachers," I called. "Touch the top wall then back down twice."

The gym thundered loudly as the nine other girls chased me up and down the bleachers.

"All of you," I called. "I want all of you running not just the ones involved in the play. Let's add two more climbs now."

The rest of the team scampered up the bleachers. I finished and picked the ball up and waited. Once the nine finished I started the play again.

I took the ball and worked it around the top before passing it off to Jamie again. I cut in behind Tessa as Cali tried to get around her. I knew she was out of position now so I stopped my cut and showed my hands right in the paint. Jamie was on target again and passed the ball into me. They started to collapse on me as I kicked it back out to Jamie. She squared up and shot the ball. She missed but Tessa and I had boxed out like we were supposed to. I got it and bounced it quickly over to Tessa. She shot it quickly, putting it into the hoop.

"Back pedal down and touch the line," I yelled. "Then sprint back and do it again."

Everyone joined in quickly as I led them down the floor. Once we finished I picked the ball up and started again. I was panting hard as I dribbled around before passing it off to Jamie. I could tell the rest of them were more than gassed now but they tried to run the play hoping I wouldn't make them run anymore.

I slipped behind the screen and went straight to Tessa. I curled around and came out where the play was intended to go again. Cali was right on my tail now not wanting to let me score again. She played me tight as I got the ball. I faked the pass as she followed the ball. It moved her just a little bit out of position. I slipped by her and walked a fine line along the baseline before I beat her again.

I continued down the baseline as Bree moved over to help and cover me. They started rotating to fill in the gaps as I turned back to the right and the middle of the floor. Bree followed me as I crossed over to my left. It tangled her feet just a little and gave me a small window to continue my drive towards the hoop. By now Cali had recovered and slowed my progress to the hoop so I continued on and under the hoop along the baseline until I came out the other side.

I stopped and faked the shot getting Cali to jump in the process. I could have taken it but I knew the three ball was now open since most of them were in the middle of the floor clogging the paint. I kicked the ball out to Jamie. She turned quickly and flung it over to Tracy. She was wide open and had all day to set her feet and shoot the three. She made it count as it went right on through.

"Walking lunges down and back," I called.

I hated lunges but I knew they hated them more. They completed the task before I picked the ball up again and started the play once more. Cali was playing back, anticipating the screen coming from Tracy now. I simply stopped at the three point line and fired it up. It hit the rim then the glass before falling in.

"Leapers," I called. "All the way down then all the way back."

The girls followed me as we jumped as far as we could on each leap all the way down then all the way back. Once we got back Teagan bounced the ball to me. I waved Jamie over and gave her the ball. She took my spot as I stood at the top.

Jamie passed me the ball this time as Tracy came up and set a screen for her. She cut in behind Tessa as I started dribbling. Cali backed off a step and glanced over her shoulder to watch where the play was going. I took the opportunity to drive in against her now. Her feet got tangled as she saw me take off. She tripped to the floor as I slipped by her and drove towards the hoop. Lane stopped chasing Jamie through the play to cover me.

I pulled to a stop and gave a hard fake. It pulled Lane into the air. I could have jumped into her and got a foul called but I decided to pass it out to Jamie as she completed her cut. She was open at the three point line in the corner. She had all day to get herself square and shoot the shot. I drifted back out to the top again as Cali and Lane both started towards her.

Jamie kicked the ball my way. I caught it again and watched them shift around to try and cover. I quickly threw it to Tracy. She got it and dumped it down to Tessa who was wide open as they scrambled around to try and cover everyone still. She simply turned and put the ball in the hoop.

"Six damn possessions and six damn baskets. All from different spots and all because we worked hard as a team and found an open shooter. We didn't score on every shot but it opened everything up and made getting a good look easy."

Cali panted as I looked at her. "Now, run my offense the way I want it and you will get good looks. I can't say you will score every single time but gosh damn it works well when you run it the way I've taught you."

"Yes sir," Cali finally said still panting.

"And don't give me that BS that Eva knows the play. The other team can figure it out by halftime what we are doing. That's why we switch things up in the third and move to Texas, Michigan, Duke, or hi low."

"I'm sorry if you girls think I'm being a jerk right about now but I have a pretty good idea of what works out here. Sometimes I wonder if you girls think I don't know what I'm doing out here."

"Rob?" I asked. "Do you think I know what I'm doing out here?"

"I believe you know a thing or two, coach," he said. "The laundry hanging from the rafters should back that up further." Four district titles, four regional titles, the third place state title, and the lone state title hung above us.

"Baby?" I questioned Teagan now.

"Don't bring me into this," she half joked.

The girls gave a soft laugh at her comment.

"I know what I'm doing out here. I eat, sleep, and drink basketball. I'm trying to give you girls the best tools to win games. The offense I run works. You girls have to run the offense correctly for it to work though. Are we clear?"

"Yes sir!" a collection of voices called.

"Let's talk a little defense now or a lack there of," I continued on without missing a beat. "I heard one voice the whole time. Bree called for a switch when Tessa screened you on the first play. That was the only voice I heard that whole time. Talk to each other out there."

"Switch, screen coming right, shot, box out, help. Talk to each other. You were lying on the floor and Lane came to cover me. I passed it to Jamie and both of you took off to cover her. That left me open. Jamie made the smart choice and passed it back to me. Then I had three of you coming to cover me. That left Tracy and Tessa wide ass open. Talk to each other."

"Slide your feet. Bree, you broke down on that one play. Keep pushing me back to the middle where there is more help for you. Don't give me the baseline. A good ball handler will score on you if you give that up."

"Yes sir," she said firmly. "I owe you a set of lunges."

"Cali, slide your feet. Stay low and slide your feet. Don't cross them over and get them tangled. That's why you fell. You crossed your ankles and tripped. Stay low and slide."

"Yes sir," she said. "I owe you a set of bleachers."

"I want you girls to run the play hard and the way it's meant to be run. You can vary things some like I did but I don't want you to be lazy anymore when you are doing it. I want more communication from all of you as well. Talk out there and help each other out. Little things will help you win games."

"I hate yelling," I said after a moment's pause. "I hate making you girls run and I hate punishing you. I want this to be fun. I want you girls to come into this gym and enjoy your time here. You will never forget this and the time you've spent here. Even at my age I still remember how much fun I had and how much I enjoyed high school basketball."

"Having said that, I have a job to do and some high expectations from you. I want you girls to play to your potential. If I didn't I would not only be letting you girls down, I'd be letting myself down. Let's tighten things up and practice better so we play better. I want Taylor to sit out the rest of this practice. I want you girls to do this. Show me you can. Look at the big picture and next season. She will not be here so it's up to the rest of you to do this."

"Cali and Bree, you both said you owe me something."

"Yes sir," they both called.

"Each of you pick five girls and pay me back," I called.

Taylor and Tessa weren't picked but they joined in as Cali ran the bleachers with five other girls. The others joined Bree with the lunges. Once they finished they stood and waited on me.

"Run my offense," I said as I bounced the ball to Cali.

"Yes sir," she said firmly.

I backed off the floor and let them get things going.

"Wow," Rob said softly. "That's a side I haven't seen out of you in a while."

"No kidding," Teagan added.

"They need some motivation," I offered.

"That ought to do it," Rob said.

"Or scare the shit out of them," Teagan said.

"Either way they need to change the way they are playing or we won't be playing in the post season."

"Let's hope it motivates them and not scare them to death," Rob chuckled.

"Let's hope," I sighed. "Now I have a flipping headache."

"Coach?" Taylor asked.

"Yeah?"

"Do I really have to sit out?"

"For now," I replied. "Let them run a little. You can help them if you want."

My outburst seemed to motivate them. They practiced hard for the rest of the evening. They did do some running but they looked much better by the time I turned them loose. A few of them stuck around after including Cali.

"Cali, come here for a minute."

"Yes sir?" she asked.

"Sorry I singled you out. But I need you to lose the attitude and focus. You are a good player, you've just had this attitude this season and I don't know where it's coming from."

"My parents are splitting up," she sighed. "It's been hard."

"I'm sorry to hear that sweetie."

"Yeah," she said as she looked down. "I might be moving too. My mom wants to leave the state and take me with her. I like it here but I love my mom. I don't know what I want to do."

"If you need someone to talk to I'm here. So is Teagan. She might be better to talk to than me."

"I know," she sighed again. "I'm sorry I'm a pain in the ass. It's just stressful."

"I hear you. It's a hard thing to deal with."

"I try not to think about it. Let's do something to take my mind off things."

"What do you want to do?" I asked.

"Whatever," she smiled softly.

"Let's work on moving your feet and sliding," I offered.

"Sure," she agreed.

We worked for a while before calling it a night. Teagan and I went home and got changed before heading over to see Thom and have dinner there. After that we headed home and relaxed. Tomorrow was another day.

The phone started ringing. Teagan answered it and talked for a minute before coming my direction.

"It's for you baby."

"Who is it?"

"I didn't get his name."

"Great, what is this all about?"

"Hello?"

"Jake Tillman," the voice on the other end of the phone cheered.

"That all depends on who is asking. You better not be that lawyer guy again."

He chuckled a little. "I've had enough of lawyers myself. I'm certainly not one of those."

"Then I'm the guy you are looking for," I offered.

"That's good to hear then," he started. "I'm Brian, I'm the athletic director down here at the college in Commerce, Texas. I have a couple of questions for you."

"Commerce," I said. "That's a little ways east of Dallas."

"Yeah, it is," he said surprised. "How the heck did you know that?"

"I ought to," I said. "I grew up in Texas about an hour and a half away from Dallas in a tiny little town. I spent some time in Plano working until I moved up here. That's about as close to Dallas as I wanted to get."

He chuckled. "A Texas native in Michigan, how the hell did you end up there?"

"That's a long story," I said. "The short version is pretty simple though. My girlfriend, at the time, wanted to move back here so she was closer to her family. My cousin had moved here to take a job teaching. She saw a job opening at a doctor's office and gave me a call. It was almost like it was meant to be so I packed my stuff up and moved. I've been here ever since."

"How do you like it up there?" he asked.

"Not bad," I sighed. "I miss home from time to time but my life is here now. If I wouldn't have left Texas I wouldn't have met my beautiful wife so I can't complain."

"I guess you can't," he chuckled. "I met my wife in the Carolinas while I was in college. Then we moved together to here and there. It's been an adventure for the both of us."

"How did you end up in Texas then?" I asked.

"I've been all over the place," he offered. "I started out in Kentucky then went to the Carolinas, then Minnesota, the Dakotas, then Louisiana, then Texas."

"I guess you have been around," I said.

"Well," he paused. "When I was growing up my dad was a wanted man. We had to move around a lot to stay one step ahead of the law."

"Yeah," I said taken aback a little. "I guess you would have to move a lot."

He chuckled. "I'm just kidding Mr. Tillman. I've taken a lot of jobs over the years and have moved a lot. I think I've found a pretty good place to call home for now."

I chuckled with him now. "The past few months have been crazy for me. I'd believe just about anything right about now."

"Oh?" he questioned. "What has been going on if you don't mind my asking?"

"I was in a pretty bad car accident a few months back. I was in a coma for a week or so before I came around. I came out suffering some short term memory loss and had to deal with that. I've regained most of the stuff I forgot though."

"Damn," he said. "I guess that has been quite the turn of events. How are you feeling now?"

"Feeling now?" I asked. "What are we talking about again?"

"You were in an accident," he said hesitantly.

"I was? When?"

"Ah," he paused.

"Got ya," I chuckled.

"I figured I had that one coming," he laughed.

"I feel really good," I chuckled with him. "It kind of put life into perspective for me. It made me really realize what is most important to me and that most of the small stuff doesn't really matter."

"That can be an eye opening experience from what I hear," he offered.

"The only thing that really bothers me is the day to day things. Like, I can't decide whether I'm actually forgetting small things because it's just a normal day to day thing like everyone does or if it is somehow related to the accident. You know what I'm trying to say?"

"Oh yeah," he chuckled. "Honey, did you remember to pick up milk? Crap, I forgot."

"Yeah, just like that."

"It only gets worse as you get older," he offered.

"Yeah," I smiled. "My wife reminds me I'm an old man every day."

"I bet," he chuckled. "Mine too."

We both laughed now. There was a small pause before I continued on.

"I don't want to sound rude but I'm sure you didn't call to listen to my life's story. You probably called to talk about Taylor."

"Um...yeah, I mean...we can. We did some research on her but that's not why I called you."

"Ok?" I said completely lost now.

"Maybe I forgot to mention this at the beginning," he started. "I'm actually related to Mandy somehow. I'm her dad's second cousin by marriage or something like that. But anyway, I saw Mandy over thanksgiving and I saw her state championship ring."

"She still wears that thing?" I interrupted him.

"She still talks about the whole season too," he offered.

"Damn," I sighed.

"We talked about it again and then we got to talking about you. She painted this picture of you as this mad scientist always studying game film and looking for ways to improve. Like basketball is an obsession for you or something. But she said you related to them so well when you guys were together as a team. You made taking orders fun and playing the game even more fun for her. She couldn't stop talking about how well you coached and how well put together you were."

"Tell her thanks if you see her again. That means a lot."

"I'll be sure to do that," he said. "So...do you have some time to talk to me?"

"Sure," I said. "But who are we talking about? Tessa maybe?"

"No Mr. Tillman. I called to talk about you."

"Me?" I questioned.

"Yes," he chuckled a little. "You know that coaching thing you do?"

"Yeah?" I said slowly.

"How would you feel about maybe doing it at the college level?"

I was relaxed on the couch with my feet up at this point having a casual conversation about me and what I thought was a scouting call about one of my girls. It completely shocked me that it was a scouting call but not for any of my players. It was about me. I sat up now and looked over at Teagan as she put her book down and looked back.

"I ah... I have never actually given that any thought to be honest."

"Maybe it's time you should consider it," he said.

"Well," I said still in shock. "I've just never considered myself as a coach. I mean, a good coach."

"Your record reflects you have a talent for coaching," he offered.

"I guess what I'm trying to say is... I consider coaching, for me, as more of a hobby and a way to give back since I'm not able to play anymore. Hell, I don't even get paid to coach at the high school. I do it more just for the fun than anything."

"All the more reason we want you," he joked. "We can use the money we save by not paying you for something else."

I gave a soft laugh now.

"We would pay you Mr. Tillman," he continued.

"Yeah, I get that."

"I've done some research on you since my conversation with Mandy," he continued. "Your record is very impressive. You have won districts and regionals the past four years straight. You have that one state title and have been in the mix every single season. That is pretty good considering you are at a public school and you can't recruit. We know you can't at the high school level but we all know the private schools do."

"Yeah, tell me about it," I hissed. "I've got a game this Friday against one of those private schools too."

"Good luck with that," he offered. "Anyway, I've seen tapes of you coaching. You've got a great style and drive. You keep your cool and motivate the girls to buy into what you want them to do. You've got a winning record and tons of experience in the sport as a whole."

"I've also talked to the college recruiters and the coaches you have dealt with while you have been working with Taylor and when you worked with Mandy. They all say the same thing about you. He's a great guy, he's always positive, he's great with people. He runs a great system and works hard but makes it fun for everyone he coaches. I even talked with the old Duke Coach about you when you played ball there. He still thinks highly of you."

I smiled to myself as he said that.

"That's what we are looking for here. I need somebody who is young, motivated, has experience, and has a good knowledge of college basketball as a whole. Your experience with Duke and getting your girls into college makes you the perfect candidate for the job."

"Well," I said taking it all in. "When you say it like that, you make it sound like I know what I'm doing."

"I believe we all have a calling in life. Coaching is your calling and it would be a shame if you spent all of it at the high school level. I admire you for doing what you are doing up there. Schools need more people like you willing to sacrifice to make it a better place for the children. I'd love to have you come here and at least do an interview so we can really see what you are all about and if you fit what we are looking for."