Pressing On: Blakely hopes to keep Pell City hoops moving in positive direction

Note: This story ran in the May 21 edition of The Daily Home, and due to a screw-up by the sports editor — yeah, that's me — didn't make the Web site that night. We're re-posting here for those who looked for it. Please to enjoy.

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Darren Blakely can’t think of the proper way to thank the citizens of Pell City for their generosity.

“My wife got ill last year, July 1, she had a stroke,” he said Tuesday. “It’s amazing how the parents supported, and the players came and called.

“I don’t know how to thank them. I can’t think of the right way to give back what they gave to us.”
Blakely thinks he may have received such an opportunity from the city school board, which last week named him the head coach of the PCHS varsity basketball program. He’s replacing Chris Graves, who served for two years before leaving to become an assistant at Birmingham-Southern College.

“I’m blessed with this opportunity to head the basketball program at Pell City, which we have laid the foundation and we’re trying to keep doing what we built here,” he said Tuesday. “One thing I can do (to give back) is try to be successful and try to help these boys become successful young men.”

A former all-state basketball player at Sumter County in York, Ala., Blakely’s coaching resume includes five state titles, all won as an assistant at his alma mater. His head coach in junior college — Bobby Hathcock, now the superintendent in Pell City — lured him here to assist under Graves.

In fact, his hometown came calling prior to last season, in need of a new head hoops coach.

“I had a chance to go back to Sumter Co.,” he said. “I talked to my wife about it – she didn’t want to leave, the boys didn’t want to leave, and unfortunately, the job here came up, shocking to me.
“I guess God works in mysterious ways.”

A father of four, Blakely inherits a program that jumped from 2 wins in 2007 to 20 wins in 2008, qualifying for the postseason. While much of last season’s core was lost to graduation — including junior-college signees Schylar Freeman and Reggie Mann — the Panthers do return a few impact players from ’08, including swing man Andres Gentry, a rising senior.

“We’ll be smaller, so we’ll have to defend,” Blakely said. “If you defend, that’ll give you a chance to win ballgames. We have a good core of guys coming back. We’ve got some guys who can fill the spots we’re losing.

“I think we’re gonna have a good chance to win – I know we’ll be competitive. I think we got a good chance to be successful. Our team goal, as it was last year, is to get to regionals.”

Blakely’s philosophy, like Graves’, is built on defense. It’s one built from working with coaches like Johnny Patrick, Hathcock and West Alabama’s Rick Reedy.

“You’ve got to evaluate the team and see what they can do,” he said. “What they do well, that’s what we’ll do, whether it’s pressing, whether it’s good half-court defense.”

There is one caveat, however.

“I don’t like the 3,” he said, “but we will shoot the 3.

“I showed guys stats from my last championship team – they couldn’t believe we won the game and didn’t take but one 3. Our goal is to attack the bucket as much as possible, and go from there.”

Blakely said he plans to take the team to Birmingham-Southern for team camp in June. His most passionate focus, however, is being a role model.

“You’ve got to be a part of them and be a positive role model for them,” he said. “And that’s the main thing, try to make them men.

“I tell them all the time, you’ll come to a point where basketball is gonna end. The main thing is to try and make them into young men.”

wlh

washed out in Montgomery

For those of you looking for updates on the Munford Lady Lions or others at the AHSAA 3A softball tournament, here they are:

-- The wireless card in my laptop is lousy, so it's hard to post any breaking updates from the press box.
-- Munford lost in the first round 8-0, with the game called in the bottom of the sixth (two Munford players on and a 2-0 count on the batter) due to heavy rain. As detailed here, the rain actually washed out every other game for today (Thursday), pushing them back to tomorrow.
-- Munford plays Straughn at 4 p.m. for the right to continue playing in the tournament. If they win, they'll play at 9 a.m. Saturday.

Check out tomorrow's edition of The Daily Home for the full story.

wlh