HOME for the holidays

December 25, 2010 at 12:10a.m.

After several seasons on the road, YSU women’s basketball coach Bob Boldon is glad to finally be …

Right about now, Tyler, Luke and Zach Boldon are tearing through gift bags and boxes wrapped with decorative paper.

Sure, they’ll pull out an occasional sweater and probably toss it to the side before searching for the new Transformers toy or Legos set. But the thrill of the hunt is half the fun.

Meanwhile, their parents Diana and Youngstown State women’s basketball coach Bob Boldon are watching with smiles on their faces. Because while their children are thrilled with what’s inside their presents, the Boldons are just happy with what’s outside their house in Canfield:

Cold.

Ice.

Snow.

Home.

Boldon days of yore

Last year at this time, Boldon and his family had none of those luxuries. Instead, they were building a sandman on the beach in Florida — some 1,200 miles from Ohio. Boldon, a Louisville native, has spent the past several Christmases all over the place. If you were to throw a dart at a map of the southern part of the United States, you’d probably hit a former Boldon home — Texas, Tennessee, Arkansas, Florida.

But, now they’re home for the holidays.

“We’ll be able to celebrate Christmas in our house and it won’t take a heroic drive to get there, and it won’t take leaving early to get there,” said Boldon, who is in his first season at the helm of the Penguins. “My extended family has always celebrated on Christmas Eve, and I was always trying to spend as much of Christmas Eve there as we could, and then rushing to be home by Christmas for our boys. But this is just so much more relaxing.”

One of those trips included a 12-hour drive from Arkansas to Akron, which was sidelined for a night by a freak blizzard — about as common in the south as a massive flood in Nebraska. The Boldons had to stop in Jackson, Tenn., where three years later — you guessed it — Boldon would end up as head coach of Lambuth University.

Boldon, 34, laughs as he tells that story. He and his wife own a Jeep Cherokee Laraedo, and one of the reasons why the trip had to be put on ice was because of the Jeep.

“We might be the only people in America who have a two-wheel drive Jeep Laraedo,” Boldon said. “It snowed like crazy. We intended on driving straight through, and we had to stop. We were at a truck stop and some of the truckers said we’d never make it up the mountains.”

There are no mountains this time. No sand. No truckers. Still two-wheel drive. But, the trip to Akron is much more enjoyable.

“It’s awesome. Even with the story of driving up here from Arkansas, you’re up here and then two days later you have to make a 12-hour drive back,” he said. “You have to load up the car and the kids and all that stuff. This time it will be a lot more relaxed.”

Persistence

Maybe not a Christmas miracle, but it is kind of a small wonder the Boldons are where they are today. In fact, there almost were no Boldons at all.

The story of how Boldon and his wife met is much like the Arkansas story — another topic; another laugh.

Diana was a non-traditional student at Wilmington College in Wilmington, Ohio, where Boldon was an assistant coach. As fate would have it, their paths crossed several times.

“She worked in the school, and one of her jobs was being in charge of van rentals,” Boldon said of his wife of eight years. “As an assistant coach, one of my responsibilities was to reserve vans [for travel]. So we got to know each other, and when she graduated, we started dating and she’s moved all over the U.S. with me.”

Hold on. It’s not that simple.

Boldon said he wasn’t exactly Mr. Suave when it came to persuading the future Mrs. Boldon to go out with him. In fact, he failed miserably on his first attempt.

“She had a film class and had to go watch a movie. And I figured that was an easy in for me,” he said laughing. “I mean, how can you screw that up? So I told her I’d like to see a movie and she said she wasn’t going that night.

“She later claimed she didn’t know I was asking her out, but she knew,” he added. “But, she didn’t know who she was dealing with.”

That never-give-up attitude has served Boldon well.

There are some long days as a coach. And longer ones as a parent. But when the two are combined, spare time is a laughable luxury.

Tyler, 6, is starting to get into sports. The 3-year-old twins, Luke and Zach, are getting into, well, everything. So when he’s not on the court running drills, he’s at home running around with his boys.

But, which is harder?

“Oh, definitely parenting,” Boldon said without hesitation. “Parenting is way more difficult. I have four assistants who are willing to give me input on how we should score, or guard. And there is a countless number of people I’ve coached who I can call with questions ... But there’s not a lot of people you can call up and say, ‘Hey, my kid’s not listening to me’ or ‘How do you get your kid potty-trained?’”

In order to be a good coach and a good dad, sometimes work comes home with Boldon. And it doesn’t matter what time it is.

It’s not uncommon for Boldon and his assistants to have meetings after he and Diana have put the boys to bed. There is never a dull moment nor a moment to spare.

But that can catch up with him. The Boldon Boys don’t wait for daddy. When it’s time to go, it’s time to go.

“My kids get up at 6-6:30 every morning no matter what time I go to bed,” he said. “They don’t seem to care what time I get home. They’re still going to get up when they get up. That’s just the give and take and the balance of trying to make it work somehow.”

And as an avid water-skier, Boldon knows how to balance. He’s done it his entire life.

Boldon was a standout point guard while at Louisville High. At Walsh University he picked up right where he left off. He started all four years, ranks fourth in scoring in school history with 1,694 points and is the school’s all-time assists leader with 775. He was inducted into the university’s athletic Hall of Fame in 2008.

He earned his master’s degree in liberal studies at Indiana University in 2003. Since then, coaching has been his favorite subject.

The long road home

Boldon couldn’t tell you exactly when he found out his dream job became available. But he’s close.

He got word from his coaching network that there was an opening in Youngstown. Former head coach Cindy Martin had abruptly resigned in March after leading the Penguins to a 3-57 record in two years. The void left the team without a coach or a direction.

Boldon put together his r sum and application and sent it in. A courtesy call to YSU Athletic Director Ron Strollo made it known Boldon was interested.

Genuinely interested.

“It wasn’t a secret among my friends that I wanted to get back in this area,” Boldon said. “Now I was by no means waiting for Cindy to get fired or resign, or was I happy that she did. I’ve been at this long enough. When I was younger, I probably was more eager for someone to get fired because I was just being selfish and I wanted a job.

“But now, being in it as long as I have, I know that it’s tough. There are good people that just don’t find a way to do it.”

So he waited.

And waited.

“Obviously, when you apply for it you’re excited. And sometimes when you apply you get no response,” Boldon said. “But then you start to get some response, and you start going through the scenario in your head that this might become a reality. That this could be awesome.”

Boldon got his response. He did a phone interview before arriving on campus for an in-person interview. He was in the stands for the annual Red and White spring football game — incognito, of course — on Saturday, April 10. On Monday, April 11, he was offered the job, and on Wednesday, April 13, he was officially announced as the sixth coach in the history of the women’s basketball program.

During his introductory press conference, Boldon referred to the job as “a dream come true.”

Had this dream happened 10 years ago, Boldon said, it quickly would have turned into a nightmare.

Boldon said he’s learned a lot from coaching at so many places. He learned he’s both right wrong about a lot. But most importantly, he’s learned to take things as they come.

“I’m a lot smarter now. And a lot more willing to admit that sometimes I don’t know the right answer,” he said. “When I first started, I was just going to do things my way. I played basketball, therefore I knew everything about the game, right? I’m a lot more open to ideas now.

“I don’t know that my core philosophies have changed, though,” he said. “And I’m more confident now. I think early on, my lack of wanting to listen to other people posed as confidence, but it was probably insecurity in my own thoughts. Now I’m sure of what I know, and I’m not afraid to listen to other people.”

Much of the time, those other people are assistant coaches Tavares Jackson, Kate Schrader and Ken Theissen. They are the same coaches who have those late-night meetings while the kids are dreaming of Spiderman and SpongeBob SquarePants.

When they’re not working, the staff enjoys a pickup game. The teams are divided equally — Boldon and Schrader and Jackson and Theissen.

“I will say that one of those teams is undefeated,” Boldon said with a big grin. “I’m not a self-promoter, so I won’t tell you who’s undefeated. But one of them is.”

It’s not all fun and games, though. Boldon would be lying if he said there wasn’t a lot to work on. And he wouldn’t say that. There is always something to work on.

The difference is Boldon is better equipped now to work with his 2-9 rebuilding team than he would have been as a young coach.

“He’d be freaking out that we’ve only won two games so far. I know that,” Boldon said of the hypothetical reaction by his younger self. “I think one of the first things I learned is that players are not like coaches. This is my livelihood and I could practice all day. My staff could do it all day. But a majority of our kids can’t do it and don’t want to do it. That used to drive me crazy. But when you think about it, it makes sense. Not everybody is a gym rat or a basketball junkie.”

While he changes his approach to coaching, he refuses to compromise on his beliefs. And you can be sure of one thing: Boldon is not going to give up until he’s successful. That’s not his style.

Just ask Diana.