Tuesday, March 20, 2007
The longtime assistant coach is happy to be coaching in his hometown.
By TOM WILLIAMS
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
POLAND -- Brian Nord exudes Poland Pride.
During Ken Grisdale's 14-season career as Poland High boys basketball coach, he has recorded many big wins. And he constantly credits his coaching staff for their input.
No one has been mentioned more than Nord, Poland basketball's "defensive coordinator" since the 1993-94 season.
"A year before I became head coach, he was our freshman coach," Grisdale said. "He's been with me the whole time."
This week, Grisdale, Nord and the Poland staff are preparing the Bulldogs (22-3) for Thursday's state semifinal basketball game against Upper Sandusky (21-3) in Ohio State University's Value City Arena.
It's the second time in six seasons that Poland has made Ohio's final four in Division II.
Hometown proud
And no one is happier for his school, his teaching colleagues, his players and his community than Nord, the man Grisdale trusts most.
A 1984 graduate of Poland, Nord teaches math at his alma mater.
"It's always great if you can teach, let alone coach, in the town where you grew up," Nord said. "There's a lot of sentiment, a lot of emotion and you can relate to the experience."
That said, Nord admits he's a little envious of what this Poland varsity team has accomplished. Only two other Poland boys teams have reached state -- 1972 and 2002.
"I'm jealous in a way that the kids have this experience because it's great, that's what it is all about," Nord said. And there are so many who aren't getting this experience. It's just phenomenal for them."
Grisdale said Nord has complete control of the Bulldogs' defense.
"He has no one to answer to -- he's the boss when it comes to defense," Grisdale said.
No wandering eyes
Nord said leaving Poland to become a head coach elsewhere doesn't interest him.
"This is my community," Nord said. "I taught and coached at Nordonia Hills for a couple of years right when I was out of college. When the opportunity arose to come back here, I jumped all over it.
"And that's a credit to the community and the school system. There are a lot of teachers and coaches in this district who are Poland alums. That's says a lot about our community."
Nord thinks the focus should be on the Poland players (Lou Coppola, Ben Umbel, Charlie Carchedi, Anthony DeFelice, Chris Lovell, David White and Brad Brocker).
"This whole run to Columbus -- the kids deserve all the credit," said Nord, commenting on how they've adapted to new strategies to engineer victories over Canfield, Painesville Harvey and Cleveland Benedictine.
"They have adapted so much in the last couple of weeks to things we have asked them to do on the fly or maybe in just one night's worth of practice. Or in some circumstances it's been a walk-through the night before."
Winning the regional a second time has a special place in Nord's heart.
"It's always great when you have a chance to go to Columbus but this one probably is even sweeter.
"If somebody had come up to you a month ago and said that Poland is going to be in the final four in a month in Columbus, you would have probably laughed," Nord said.
Overcame losses
On Feb. 16, Poland had two Metro Athletic Conference losses and was playing first-place Canfield in the Bulldogs' gymnasium.
Poland took a 10-point lead in the third quarter, but the Cardinals rallied for the win in the final 90 seconds.
Canfield went on to win the MAC as Poland and Campbell tied for second.
But on March 10, the Bulldogs defeated the Cardinals in the district final at Boardman. Last week, they ousted Painesville Harvey and Benedictine in Canton. In the latter game, Poland trailed by 10 in the first half.
"The kids have stepped up when they needed to step up," Nord said. "They shifted a gear against Painesville Harvey, a darn good basketball team.
"Against Benedictine, most teams in that situation when things went pretty sour for us would have said, 'We've had a nice run.'
"But these kids had the guts and the intestinal fortitude to say, 'Hey wait a minute. We still control our own destiny here. We're going to do a couple of things different, put a little pressure on their guards and put the ball in the basket more.'
"And they never backed down. I don't think there was ever a doubt in their minds that they weren't going to win that game."
williams@vindy.com