A Coaching Life
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
A legendary era has ended for the North Adams boys varsity basketball program.
After 24 years at North Adams and 27 years overall as a varsity basketball coach, Dave Young will no longer sit in the head coach's chair on game day.
Though Young's contract at North Adams as the varsity basketball coach wasn't renewed by the Adams County/Ohio Valley School Board for a 25th consecutive season due to health reasons, that didn't take away the great career amassed by one of the best to ever coach the game.
The season before Young took over at North Adams, they finished with one win; 362 wins later, at the helm of the Green Devils, Young not only stayed the head coach, but became North Adams basketball.
Young's basketball path is filled with wins, losses, many players, away games, technical fouls and a passion for the game of basketball and coaching that is equaled by only a handful.
"North Adams was a place where the school and community accepted me and my style of coaching," Young said. "Things did go south the last few years due to an administration that wasn't from the area, so there wasn't a lot of support. I knew not being renewed was coming if not this year, in the next couple years. They got their ideas and felt like it was broken, and so they fixed it."
One decision by an administration didn't take away all the success and memories Young collected in almost three decades as not only the coach at North Adams, but as varsity coach at Whiteoak and Minford.
Young, a 1972 graduate of West Union, came back to his alma mater after getting his teaching degree at Eastern Kentucky University, where he became the junior high coach. Young left West Union after four seasons and became the junior high coach at East Clinton for one season. Following his stint at East Clinton, Young became the varsity coach at Whiteoak for the next two seasons.
After Whiteoak, he coached one season at Minford at the varsity level, then he went down a level, coaching JV for two seasons in Waverly. Following Waverly, Young began his legacy at North Adams, which lasted for 24 consecutive seasons.
"Several years when I was the varsity coach I also was the JV coach because that was the way things were with the old-timers," Young said. "I became a coach because I wasn't a great player, and when I started college, I was in law enforcement and switched to pre-law. Then I decided what I really wanted to do was coaching, so I thought the best way to get into that was to become a teacher."
The teaching of Young in the classroom included physical education and junior high science in the seventh and eighth grades. The full schedule of coaching and teaching included terms of being a baseball, golf and a junior high track coach.
Young watched with a keen eye for detail from the bench before becoming a head coach, learning the craft from older coaches including Butch Hooper at East Clinton and during his two years as the JV coach at Waverly under Carl Wolfe. Young eventually mixed his philosophy of basketball with that of those coaches, along with the ways of others, including former McClain head coach Rick VanMatre.
As Young learned from his predecessors and peers, his teams began to generate a reputation of playing hard every game, which was expected from the head coach.
"My teams were known for playing hard, whether they were winning or losing," he said. "I expected that, and I told my players, 'Give me what you got, and we'll figure out a way to use it.' I wanted my teams to represent the school in a good way, and we weren't going to have players with tattoos and their pants hanging down in pre-game. I know that's a little bit of old-school, and that wasn't accepted too well in the last couple years.
"But I wanted North Adams to have the stamp of 'we played hard.' I wasn't going to make them play a style they weren't capable of playing, but we were going to play hard."
Young doesn't take credit for the wins because he's says he never scored a point, grabbed a rebound or passed the ball for an assist. Young credits the wins to his players; he only takes credit for the 189 career losses, though he more than doubled his wins over losses with a career record of 403-189.
"I had some great kids. They made the program and made me look like an awfully good coach … I had some great kids," Young said. "Even if the kid wasn't a great player, it was still a great pleasure to coach my players. They knew what was expected of them."
The first team
Young's first stint as a head coach began in Highland County, leading the Wildcats for two seasons in the early '80s. During his time at Whiteoak, Young said he had good teams, and they won games but didn't win a sectional title.
One moment that stands out during his tenure at Whiteoak was his first game because not only did the Wildcats gain a rare win against the Hillsboro Indians, but the following day he got married, as the game was on a Friday and he tied the knot on Saturday.
"My first varsity game as coach was against Hillsboro, at Hillsboro because they wouldn't travel to the county schools back then. It was little Whiteoak against big bad Hillsboro, and we beat them … actually, we beat them two years in a row."
Another memory Young had at Whiteoak was when they defeated the No. 7 state-ranked Peebles squad, who at the time had at or near 45 straight Southern Hills League wins.
"We played them tight, and Wes Mitchell hit a 24-foot shot (no three-pointers then) to beat them," Young said. "The funny thing about Wes is I coached him my first year, and in my last season I coached his son, Andrew.
"What I remember about my time at Whiteoak is the fans would jam-pack the gym and it was a tiny cracker box, but we won a lot of games."
Becoming a Green Devil
Saying he was the only person in line when the North Adams job became vacant over 20 years ago, Young inherited a team that finished 1-20. In his first season, the Green Devils finished 2-19.
After the growing pains of the first couple seasons, Young and his players filled numerous banners on the walls of North Adams that include nine SHL titles, 17 sectional titles, three district titles and one regional title, which included a trip to the state Final Four in 1996.
When the tournament started for Young's North Adams teams, that's when their luck went away at times, losing multiple games late in the tournament on a missed shot here or a controversial call there, or a ball that didn't go through the basket for them with seconds remaining on the clock.
"Three years ago, we beat Hillsboro to go 20-0 in the regular season, and in the tournament, we had a bad stretch against Piketon," Young said. "We finally caught up. With around 20 seconds to go, we had a desperation shot, and Piketon went to state.
"Two years before that, there was a no-call, which cost us in the tournament."
Young has accumulated individual awards, including nine SHL Coach of the Year awards, four District Coach of the Year awards and was the Division III State Coach of the Year. He also coached in the North-South All-Star game and the Ohio-Kentucky game.
One team for Young stands out more than the others, and that is the 1995-96 team that reached the state Final Four. Other teams he said that stand out are the '90, '93 and the '08-'09 team.
The 1996 Green Devils finished the season with the one loss in the state tournament, which ended on a controversial shot as the buzzer sounded.
"Our '96 team … it was one of those freak things that came together at once. We had height in the post, and we were 20-0 in the regular season," Young said.
During that season, only one win was by less than 10 points, a game against Ripley, as the Green Devils were head-and-shoulders better than everyone else.
"We got beat by one shot that I didn't agree with … we haven't had great luck in the tournament," Young said.
In his time at North Adams, Young said he is most proud of the fact his players won 17 sectional titles, saying "most teams said their goal is to reach the Convo, and our kids did it 17 times."
"When you look over at the wall on the court at North Adams with all the banners, you realize how many great players and great fans we've had here," Young said.
"We've had such great support from the community, and we were invited everywhere to play games. The '96 team sold 3,000 tickets to Waverly and 3,000 tickets each game to Athens. What you have to realize is there are only 750 people in Seaman and 750 people in Winchester.
"Our fans travel well because we have just such a great fan base. Since we didn't have football, we were the only show in town."
The "only show in town" produced great entertainment for the Green Devil faithful with improvement in the early years, gaining the attention of the Adams County community. In his second year, Young helped lead North Adams to a 7-15 season and then the following year they won their first sectional, eventually losing to Southeastern Ross by four points, who eventually advanced to the state tournament.
A change in philosophy
In the 1992-93 season, Young said they lost the SHL title in the first game, losing to the Lynchburg-Clay Mustangs in the season opener. The LC team that season went to the State Final Four, finishing undefeated in the regular season. The loss to LC in the season opener was the Green Devils' lone loss.
The '93 season was a year of change for Young on the court, changing his philosophy of the game. The old-school way, so to speak, of basketball was to play inside-out, but that all changed that season with his team, which lacked size in the post, shooting a state-record 653 three-pointers in a season.
"We won 19 games doing that," Young said. "It was the first time I let my team do something like that, and that changed our season. I turned our offense upside down and threw out the old way of doing things. It turned out to see how many threes we could get.
"I like to pat myself on the back because I'm not hard-headed in my way of coaching. I've had great assistants. One of my best attributes is knowing I'm open enough to play a style of game to match the talents of an individual team."
In providing an entertainment factor for the community, after the '93 season Young's teams used a mixture of post play and the three-point ball to go along with their player intros of music and laser lights at both the current gym and the old gym.
"We played an exciting brand of basketball. We were ready to do whatever style of play we needed to win games," Young said.
"We provided entertainment for the community. In the old gym, the fans were right on top of the court, and we lost some of that when we moved into the new gym, but the fans still packed the place."
Fans that packed the gyms of not only North Adams, but all across neighboring counties, were treated to four previously-mentioned teams that Young said were his top teams.
The 2008-09 team, which was 20-0 in the regular season, reached the regional tournament. The team finished 23-1 that season with seven seniors, five who started and two more who played a lot of minutes.
That season also was one of the reasons Young said the program didn't gain the usual results in the win column the past couple seasons. Young's last two teams finished 7-14 and 6-15 respectively.
"When you have a team with all those seniors and you are winning games, the younger kids don't get the varsity time they need to improve for future seasons. That just happens sometimes,” Young said. "A lot of kids had to just sit the bench and didn't get in, and for that, we suffered the consequences the past couple seasons.
"Last year, we played a whole bunch of sophomores, and I think they will have a decent season this year."
Being involved with basketball for almost three decades at the varsity level causes rivalries on the court, and that was no different for Young and his teams.
Some of the games where a win could have been just a bit more important were against Eastern Brown, Whiteoak and Peebles. In the tournament, Young said his teams always seemed to meet up with Chesapeake and Ironton.
"Most of the rivalries were team, school and even coaching rivalries," Young said, "I coached many games against Rob Beucler – and Jerry Lewis before that. They are rivals because we are all so close together, but we have good programs as well."
Losing an identity
Having time to think about not being the head coach for the Green Devils allowed Young to look back and think about his time and who he was as not only a coach, but as a person, too.
"I don't know why, but until recently I never thought about not being the coach at North Adams. It seemed I wasn't just the coach at North Adams, but I became North Adams, and they (school board) took away who I was,” Young said.
"I knew that wasn't true; and I'll eventually find out Dave Young isn't just the North Adams coach. When I was the coach, I became obsessed with it, left no rocks unturned. The last year or so, I've had some health problems. The day after I had a stent put in my heart, I coached against Lynchburg-Clay."
January 2011 was the first time Young ever missed a game as the NA head coach, after he was admitted to the hospital on a Wednesday and the Green Devils played on a Friday.
"I missed a game against West Union, and I got out of the hospital the next day," he said. "We played at Manchester the next game, but I didn't coach … I just watched," Young said. "I've missed part of games with some ejections early on, but that was the first time I wasn't physically able to coach.
"One thing I like to think is no matter what school paid me to be their coach, I know they got their money's worth out of me."
Old friends and a new generation
After being in gyms as long as Young, one fact many may not realize is Young is good friends with VanMatre, who coached at McClain for 25-plus years, and the two never coached against each other in a regular-season game. Between the two, they tallied 875 wins.
"It's funny, we never coached against each other," Young said of never facing VanMatre. “We've talked about it.”
Another thing is I never faced Tom Berry at Wheelersburg, and we always had teams that could have met up in the tournament, but it never happened."
When asked if the game has changed, Young said he didn't think the game had, but it is different for many reasons.
"Kids haven't changed, but they do get a lot of their coaching at home. A few years ago, kids were tougher, but even if they didn't agree or respect me, it would get through to them, but not so much anymore. It starts at home."
Players aren't the only younger generation, as the coaches on the sideline have changed with some coaches being younger in age than the experience Young has on the sideline.
"A few years ago, I was at the SHL meeting, and I looked over and there was Matt Carson (who coaches Fairfield)," Young said. "He was 20 years old. Right there, I thought to myself 'What the hell? I have been coaching longer than he's been alive.' I also coached against Jason McLaughlin – who now coaches Lynchburg-Clay – when he was a player."
With the youth movement currently taking place in the area with many schools hiring younger head coaches, Young said it can make you feel your age, especially with second-generation players jumping into the mix.
"Josh Arey at Peebles is one of the few coaches who is just starting and who I've coached against that seeks out my advice. A lot of the newer ones 'know it all,' but I learned from the older coaches who knew how basketball should be played," Young said. “I've never been one to guard secrets, and we were pretty easy to figure out. Our basic philosophy was 'Do what you do best.'"
The ‘towel’ and sideline behavior
If anyone ever watched a North Adams game in the past decade, there was Young on the NA sideline with his trusty towel, although in the early years it wasn't a towel, but rather a rolled-up program.
In later years, Young had his own towel, with three members of the booster club getting the towel embroidered.
"I really don't know what year it happened," Young said in when he started carrying the towel. "I used to just take a program and roll it up, but having the towel, I couldn't do without it. My pre-game was have the towel on my desk, talk to my team, take a drink of water, grab the towel and come out for the 'National Anthem.'"
While on the sideline in the early years, with his rolled-up program, Young was known for having a short temper with officials, though he is friends with most of them away from the court.
"My sideline (customs) changed a lot through the years. Early on, I yelled a lot; but I eventually learned that wasn't going to change much," Young said. "The last few years, I mellowed some.
"I always got technical fouls – a lot in Hillsboro – but I did respect the refs. I never showed one up; but if I got a technical, I probably deserved it.
“Sometimes, I even wanted one; but that was just my intensity when I coached. Even later on, my intensity stayed up. I just didn't say stupid things. I also figured out I couldn't beat Rick's (VanMatre) sideline (reputation). His sideline was awfully good,” Young joked.
The 400th win
Young paid his dues. He didn't start at the JV level with his coaching career; he said he did it the way it was supposed to be by learning how to be a coach at the junior-high level.
On Dec. 27, 2010, Young recorded his 400th coaching win, a 72-47 North Adams’ home victory against his alma mater, West Union.
"I considered retiring after the 2009 season, but the 400th win was sitting right there in front of me, so I was selfish and stayed," Young said.
"I wanted to go for it; but like I've said before, out of those 400 wins, I didn't make a shot, grab a rebound or pass the ball for an assist. The kids won 403 games."
In all the years it took to gain the 400-plus wins, Young said he hoped what his players learned from him had nothing to do with basketball.
"I hope my players learned respect and work ethic. I could rattle off all the kids I've coached who have high-profile jobs or are very fine and respected members of the community who have a great work ethic. I've coached many smart and respectful kids, so I just hope they learned respect and work ethic from me, and I think they have.
"If I just have had a little bit to do with that … that means a lot. I think when I have my funeral, a lot of my former players will be there. What more could you ask for?"
The end of a career
Young said he had a plan in place for this upcoming season in case he encountered more health problems. His final game turned out to be a tournament loss to Lynchburg-Clay in the sectionals.
"I wanted to go another year, but the forces that be didn't want me to. The outgoing principal was concerned about my health issues."
Young talked about the plan: Nathan Copas (a former player and now the head coach at NA) would be the varsity assistant, and he was going to take over if anything happened … that way nothing would be disturbed.
"It ended up with me not doing it (coaching), and I have been having some health problems. It's probably the best thing for me, but the way it was handled was very unprofessional. Through a series of events (involving former administration), I was no longer the athletic director, the baseball coach and now the basketball coach. You could say it was that person's last hurrah before he left."
A new era at NA
Replacing Young will be Copas at the varsity level, with Rob Meade being the JV coach this season.
Both are former players of Young, and he wishes them the best as they take over the program. "I really hope North Adams basketball is really successful," Young said. "Under Copas and Meade, they will keep the tradition of North Adams basketball alive."
The fans, coaches and community
Looking back on his time doing what he loved, Young said he made a lot of friends in the coaching ranks, but also his teams had some great fans along the way.
"We have such great fans at North Adams. I've become good friends with a lot of coaches, and coaches are good people and make good friends because they tell it like it is," Young said. "I've had some tremendous years.
"We had Ernie Blankenship down this past season and honored him. He's a great friend; so is Kevin (Greer) who broadcasts with Ernie. They go back to my Whiteoak years and are both tremendous gentlemen."
One final look at a great career
Being a coach is what Young said he always wanted to do, and he's glad that is the career path he chose.
"I've coached two generations of players, which was special because many people don't get to do that," Young said. "I like to think I knew what I was doing when I was coach, and I'm proud to say that was my career. It was good fun, and I had a good time doing it."
Young said there wasn't enough room to thank all the people who have been a part of his coaching career, but he was grateful for being treated as well as he was by not only Highland County, but by the town of Seaman because as he said, "I was an Adams Countian from West Union, but was adopted to be a good Green Devil."
"I've made my home here, and it's been great. I love the fans, and I was always proud. It made me want to stick my chest out some, when others would comment on how big of a crowd we brought to games," he said. "I've thanked them on many occasions.
“I love them all. And I've appreciated all the prayers and well-wishes I have received."
Young had one final comment: "Don't be surprised if I don't show up someplace again. I don't know if I'll ever coach varsity again, but I wouldn't mind getting back to the basics at the junior high level."[[In-content Ad]]
After 24 years at North Adams and 27 years overall as a varsity basketball coach, Dave Young will no longer sit in the head coach's chair on game day.
Though Young's contract at North Adams as the varsity basketball coach wasn't renewed by the Adams County/Ohio Valley School Board for a 25th consecutive season due to health reasons, that didn't take away the great career amassed by one of the best to ever coach the game.
The season before Young took over at North Adams, they finished with one win; 362 wins later, at the helm of the Green Devils, Young not only stayed the head coach, but became North Adams basketball.
Young's basketball path is filled with wins, losses, many players, away games, technical fouls and a passion for the game of basketball and coaching that is equaled by only a handful.
"North Adams was a place where the school and community accepted me and my style of coaching," Young said. "Things did go south the last few years due to an administration that wasn't from the area, so there wasn't a lot of support. I knew not being renewed was coming if not this year, in the next couple years. They got their ideas and felt like it was broken, and so they fixed it."
One decision by an administration didn't take away all the success and memories Young collected in almost three decades as not only the coach at North Adams, but as varsity coach at Whiteoak and Minford.
Young, a 1972 graduate of West Union, came back to his alma mater after getting his teaching degree at Eastern Kentucky University, where he became the junior high coach. Young left West Union after four seasons and became the junior high coach at East Clinton for one season. Following his stint at East Clinton, Young became the varsity coach at Whiteoak for the next two seasons.
After Whiteoak, he coached one season at Minford at the varsity level, then he went down a level, coaching JV for two seasons in Waverly. Following Waverly, Young began his legacy at North Adams, which lasted for 24 consecutive seasons.
"Several years when I was the varsity coach I also was the JV coach because that was the way things were with the old-timers," Young said. "I became a coach because I wasn't a great player, and when I started college, I was in law enforcement and switched to pre-law. Then I decided what I really wanted to do was coaching, so I thought the best way to get into that was to become a teacher."
The teaching of Young in the classroom included physical education and junior high science in the seventh and eighth grades. The full schedule of coaching and teaching included terms of being a baseball, golf and a junior high track coach.
Young watched with a keen eye for detail from the bench before becoming a head coach, learning the craft from older coaches including Butch Hooper at East Clinton and during his two years as the JV coach at Waverly under Carl Wolfe. Young eventually mixed his philosophy of basketball with that of those coaches, along with the ways of others, including former McClain head coach Rick VanMatre.
As Young learned from his predecessors and peers, his teams began to generate a reputation of playing hard every game, which was expected from the head coach.
"My teams were known for playing hard, whether they were winning or losing," he said. "I expected that, and I told my players, 'Give me what you got, and we'll figure out a way to use it.' I wanted my teams to represent the school in a good way, and we weren't going to have players with tattoos and their pants hanging down in pre-game. I know that's a little bit of old-school, and that wasn't accepted too well in the last couple years.
"But I wanted North Adams to have the stamp of 'we played hard.' I wasn't going to make them play a style they weren't capable of playing, but we were going to play hard."
Young doesn't take credit for the wins because he's says he never scored a point, grabbed a rebound or passed the ball for an assist. Young credits the wins to his players; he only takes credit for the 189 career losses, though he more than doubled his wins over losses with a career record of 403-189.
"I had some great kids. They made the program and made me look like an awfully good coach … I had some great kids," Young said. "Even if the kid wasn't a great player, it was still a great pleasure to coach my players. They knew what was expected of them."
The first team
Young's first stint as a head coach began in Highland County, leading the Wildcats for two seasons in the early '80s. During his time at Whiteoak, Young said he had good teams, and they won games but didn't win a sectional title.
One moment that stands out during his tenure at Whiteoak was his first game because not only did the Wildcats gain a rare win against the Hillsboro Indians, but the following day he got married, as the game was on a Friday and he tied the knot on Saturday.
"My first varsity game as coach was against Hillsboro, at Hillsboro because they wouldn't travel to the county schools back then. It was little Whiteoak against big bad Hillsboro, and we beat them … actually, we beat them two years in a row."
Another memory Young had at Whiteoak was when they defeated the No. 7 state-ranked Peebles squad, who at the time had at or near 45 straight Southern Hills League wins.
"We played them tight, and Wes Mitchell hit a 24-foot shot (no three-pointers then) to beat them," Young said. "The funny thing about Wes is I coached him my first year, and in my last season I coached his son, Andrew.
"What I remember about my time at Whiteoak is the fans would jam-pack the gym and it was a tiny cracker box, but we won a lot of games."
Becoming a Green Devil
Saying he was the only person in line when the North Adams job became vacant over 20 years ago, Young inherited a team that finished 1-20. In his first season, the Green Devils finished 2-19.
After the growing pains of the first couple seasons, Young and his players filled numerous banners on the walls of North Adams that include nine SHL titles, 17 sectional titles, three district titles and one regional title, which included a trip to the state Final Four in 1996.
When the tournament started for Young's North Adams teams, that's when their luck went away at times, losing multiple games late in the tournament on a missed shot here or a controversial call there, or a ball that didn't go through the basket for them with seconds remaining on the clock.
"Three years ago, we beat Hillsboro to go 20-0 in the regular season, and in the tournament, we had a bad stretch against Piketon," Young said. "We finally caught up. With around 20 seconds to go, we had a desperation shot, and Piketon went to state.
"Two years before that, there was a no-call, which cost us in the tournament."
Young has accumulated individual awards, including nine SHL Coach of the Year awards, four District Coach of the Year awards and was the Division III State Coach of the Year. He also coached in the North-South All-Star game and the Ohio-Kentucky game.
One team for Young stands out more than the others, and that is the 1995-96 team that reached the state Final Four. Other teams he said that stand out are the '90, '93 and the '08-'09 team.
The 1996 Green Devils finished the season with the one loss in the state tournament, which ended on a controversial shot as the buzzer sounded.
"Our '96 team … it was one of those freak things that came together at once. We had height in the post, and we were 20-0 in the regular season," Young said.
During that season, only one win was by less than 10 points, a game against Ripley, as the Green Devils were head-and-shoulders better than everyone else.
"We got beat by one shot that I didn't agree with … we haven't had great luck in the tournament," Young said.
In his time at North Adams, Young said he is most proud of the fact his players won 17 sectional titles, saying "most teams said their goal is to reach the Convo, and our kids did it 17 times."
"When you look over at the wall on the court at North Adams with all the banners, you realize how many great players and great fans we've had here," Young said.
"We've had such great support from the community, and we were invited everywhere to play games. The '96 team sold 3,000 tickets to Waverly and 3,000 tickets each game to Athens. What you have to realize is there are only 750 people in Seaman and 750 people in Winchester.
"Our fans travel well because we have just such a great fan base. Since we didn't have football, we were the only show in town."
The "only show in town" produced great entertainment for the Green Devil faithful with improvement in the early years, gaining the attention of the Adams County community. In his second year, Young helped lead North Adams to a 7-15 season and then the following year they won their first sectional, eventually losing to Southeastern Ross by four points, who eventually advanced to the state tournament.
A change in philosophy
In the 1992-93 season, Young said they lost the SHL title in the first game, losing to the Lynchburg-Clay Mustangs in the season opener. The LC team that season went to the State Final Four, finishing undefeated in the regular season. The loss to LC in the season opener was the Green Devils' lone loss.
The '93 season was a year of change for Young on the court, changing his philosophy of the game. The old-school way, so to speak, of basketball was to play inside-out, but that all changed that season with his team, which lacked size in the post, shooting a state-record 653 three-pointers in a season.
"We won 19 games doing that," Young said. "It was the first time I let my team do something like that, and that changed our season. I turned our offense upside down and threw out the old way of doing things. It turned out to see how many threes we could get.
"I like to pat myself on the back because I'm not hard-headed in my way of coaching. I've had great assistants. One of my best attributes is knowing I'm open enough to play a style of game to match the talents of an individual team."
In providing an entertainment factor for the community, after the '93 season Young's teams used a mixture of post play and the three-point ball to go along with their player intros of music and laser lights at both the current gym and the old gym.
"We played an exciting brand of basketball. We were ready to do whatever style of play we needed to win games," Young said.
"We provided entertainment for the community. In the old gym, the fans were right on top of the court, and we lost some of that when we moved into the new gym, but the fans still packed the place."
Fans that packed the gyms of not only North Adams, but all across neighboring counties, were treated to four previously-mentioned teams that Young said were his top teams.
The 2008-09 team, which was 20-0 in the regular season, reached the regional tournament. The team finished 23-1 that season with seven seniors, five who started and two more who played a lot of minutes.
That season also was one of the reasons Young said the program didn't gain the usual results in the win column the past couple seasons. Young's last two teams finished 7-14 and 6-15 respectively.
"When you have a team with all those seniors and you are winning games, the younger kids don't get the varsity time they need to improve for future seasons. That just happens sometimes,” Young said. "A lot of kids had to just sit the bench and didn't get in, and for that, we suffered the consequences the past couple seasons.
"Last year, we played a whole bunch of sophomores, and I think they will have a decent season this year."
Being involved with basketball for almost three decades at the varsity level causes rivalries on the court, and that was no different for Young and his teams.
Some of the games where a win could have been just a bit more important were against Eastern Brown, Whiteoak and Peebles. In the tournament, Young said his teams always seemed to meet up with Chesapeake and Ironton.
"Most of the rivalries were team, school and even coaching rivalries," Young said, "I coached many games against Rob Beucler – and Jerry Lewis before that. They are rivals because we are all so close together, but we have good programs as well."
Losing an identity
Having time to think about not being the head coach for the Green Devils allowed Young to look back and think about his time and who he was as not only a coach, but as a person, too.
"I don't know why, but until recently I never thought about not being the coach at North Adams. It seemed I wasn't just the coach at North Adams, but I became North Adams, and they (school board) took away who I was,” Young said.
"I knew that wasn't true; and I'll eventually find out Dave Young isn't just the North Adams coach. When I was the coach, I became obsessed with it, left no rocks unturned. The last year or so, I've had some health problems. The day after I had a stent put in my heart, I coached against Lynchburg-Clay."
January 2011 was the first time Young ever missed a game as the NA head coach, after he was admitted to the hospital on a Wednesday and the Green Devils played on a Friday.
"I missed a game against West Union, and I got out of the hospital the next day," he said. "We played at Manchester the next game, but I didn't coach … I just watched," Young said. "I've missed part of games with some ejections early on, but that was the first time I wasn't physically able to coach.
"One thing I like to think is no matter what school paid me to be their coach, I know they got their money's worth out of me."
Old friends and a new generation
After being in gyms as long as Young, one fact many may not realize is Young is good friends with VanMatre, who coached at McClain for 25-plus years, and the two never coached against each other in a regular-season game. Between the two, they tallied 875 wins.
"It's funny, we never coached against each other," Young said of never facing VanMatre. “We've talked about it.”
Another thing is I never faced Tom Berry at Wheelersburg, and we always had teams that could have met up in the tournament, but it never happened."
When asked if the game has changed, Young said he didn't think the game had, but it is different for many reasons.
"Kids haven't changed, but they do get a lot of their coaching at home. A few years ago, kids were tougher, but even if they didn't agree or respect me, it would get through to them, but not so much anymore. It starts at home."
Players aren't the only younger generation, as the coaches on the sideline have changed with some coaches being younger in age than the experience Young has on the sideline.
"A few years ago, I was at the SHL meeting, and I looked over and there was Matt Carson (who coaches Fairfield)," Young said. "He was 20 years old. Right there, I thought to myself 'What the hell? I have been coaching longer than he's been alive.' I also coached against Jason McLaughlin – who now coaches Lynchburg-Clay – when he was a player."
With the youth movement currently taking place in the area with many schools hiring younger head coaches, Young said it can make you feel your age, especially with second-generation players jumping into the mix.
"Josh Arey at Peebles is one of the few coaches who is just starting and who I've coached against that seeks out my advice. A lot of the newer ones 'know it all,' but I learned from the older coaches who knew how basketball should be played," Young said. “I've never been one to guard secrets, and we were pretty easy to figure out. Our basic philosophy was 'Do what you do best.'"
The ‘towel’ and sideline behavior
If anyone ever watched a North Adams game in the past decade, there was Young on the NA sideline with his trusty towel, although in the early years it wasn't a towel, but rather a rolled-up program.
In later years, Young had his own towel, with three members of the booster club getting the towel embroidered.
"I really don't know what year it happened," Young said in when he started carrying the towel. "I used to just take a program and roll it up, but having the towel, I couldn't do without it. My pre-game was have the towel on my desk, talk to my team, take a drink of water, grab the towel and come out for the 'National Anthem.'"
While on the sideline in the early years, with his rolled-up program, Young was known for having a short temper with officials, though he is friends with most of them away from the court.
"My sideline (customs) changed a lot through the years. Early on, I yelled a lot; but I eventually learned that wasn't going to change much," Young said. "The last few years, I mellowed some.
"I always got technical fouls – a lot in Hillsboro – but I did respect the refs. I never showed one up; but if I got a technical, I probably deserved it.
“Sometimes, I even wanted one; but that was just my intensity when I coached. Even later on, my intensity stayed up. I just didn't say stupid things. I also figured out I couldn't beat Rick's (VanMatre) sideline (reputation). His sideline was awfully good,” Young joked.
The 400th win
Young paid his dues. He didn't start at the JV level with his coaching career; he said he did it the way it was supposed to be by learning how to be a coach at the junior-high level.
On Dec. 27, 2010, Young recorded his 400th coaching win, a 72-47 North Adams’ home victory against his alma mater, West Union.
"I considered retiring after the 2009 season, but the 400th win was sitting right there in front of me, so I was selfish and stayed," Young said.
"I wanted to go for it; but like I've said before, out of those 400 wins, I didn't make a shot, grab a rebound or pass the ball for an assist. The kids won 403 games."
In all the years it took to gain the 400-plus wins, Young said he hoped what his players learned from him had nothing to do with basketball.
"I hope my players learned respect and work ethic. I could rattle off all the kids I've coached who have high-profile jobs or are very fine and respected members of the community who have a great work ethic. I've coached many smart and respectful kids, so I just hope they learned respect and work ethic from me, and I think they have.
"If I just have had a little bit to do with that … that means a lot. I think when I have my funeral, a lot of my former players will be there. What more could you ask for?"
The end of a career
Young said he had a plan in place for this upcoming season in case he encountered more health problems. His final game turned out to be a tournament loss to Lynchburg-Clay in the sectionals.
"I wanted to go another year, but the forces that be didn't want me to. The outgoing principal was concerned about my health issues."
Young talked about the plan: Nathan Copas (a former player and now the head coach at NA) would be the varsity assistant, and he was going to take over if anything happened … that way nothing would be disturbed.
"It ended up with me not doing it (coaching), and I have been having some health problems. It's probably the best thing for me, but the way it was handled was very unprofessional. Through a series of events (involving former administration), I was no longer the athletic director, the baseball coach and now the basketball coach. You could say it was that person's last hurrah before he left."
A new era at NA
Replacing Young will be Copas at the varsity level, with Rob Meade being the JV coach this season.
Both are former players of Young, and he wishes them the best as they take over the program. "I really hope North Adams basketball is really successful," Young said. "Under Copas and Meade, they will keep the tradition of North Adams basketball alive."
The fans, coaches and community
Looking back on his time doing what he loved, Young said he made a lot of friends in the coaching ranks, but also his teams had some great fans along the way.
"We have such great fans at North Adams. I've become good friends with a lot of coaches, and coaches are good people and make good friends because they tell it like it is," Young said. "I've had some tremendous years.
"We had Ernie Blankenship down this past season and honored him. He's a great friend; so is Kevin (Greer) who broadcasts with Ernie. They go back to my Whiteoak years and are both tremendous gentlemen."
One final look at a great career
Being a coach is what Young said he always wanted to do, and he's glad that is the career path he chose.
"I've coached two generations of players, which was special because many people don't get to do that," Young said. "I like to think I knew what I was doing when I was coach, and I'm proud to say that was my career. It was good fun, and I had a good time doing it."
Young said there wasn't enough room to thank all the people who have been a part of his coaching career, but he was grateful for being treated as well as he was by not only Highland County, but by the town of Seaman because as he said, "I was an Adams Countian from West Union, but was adopted to be a good Green Devil."
"I've made my home here, and it's been great. I love the fans, and I was always proud. It made me want to stick my chest out some, when others would comment on how big of a crowd we brought to games," he said. "I've thanked them on many occasions.
“I love them all. And I've appreciated all the prayers and well-wishes I have received."
Young had one final comment: "Don't be surprised if I don't show up someplace again. I don't know if I'll ever coach varsity again, but I wouldn't mind getting back to the basics at the junior high level."[[In-content Ad]]