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French takes over as Springfield’s boys basketball coach
It was a match made in heaven.
Steve French moved down from Ashtabula County, his home his whole life, to begin a new life with his new wife from Poland. And the Springfield boys basketball job opened.
“It was perfect timing,” French said. “It was a blessing to be able to interview and be able to get it. They love their basketball at Springfield. They support their school and that’s where I want to be.”
French replaces Eric Fender, who elected not to re-apply for the job after a successful run with the Tigers beginning in 2009.
French coached at Jefferson the past six seasons and was the head coach for the last four. The Falcons reached the district final French’s past two seasons. In 2016, the team was the number-one seed in the district and fell to Perry 69-59 and the next year the third-seeded Falcons lost to Lake Catholic 66-58.
French said while he honed in his coaching style and learned plenty up north, he’s not planning on completely uprooting the system Springfield has in place.
“I want to bring the way I approached it there to Springfield,” French said. “I want to play fast, be physical and get in your face on defense. But I’m not going to come in and change everything there. [Springfield] has great tradition and a good fundamental foundation.
“I want to blend the stuff I like to do and what [the players] are good at.”
While French isn’t looking to necessarily abandon big players in favor of spreading the floor and shooting threes, transition play will be a big part of French’s game plan.
“If we have shooters we’ll let them fly and if we’ve got big kids will go down low,” French said. “But I want to be on the fast break on makes and misses and take advantage of those situations. These games often come down to two, three, four possessions and if you can steal some of them over the course of the game it will pay off at the end.”
Transition play often favors the team that is more in shape. But French said it doesn’t appear like his guys will be moaning and groaning when it comes time to condition in the preseason.
“They already are [conditioned],” French said. “They seemed confident they were conditioned so we’ll find out when practice starts. But I’m confident they’re no different from the great kids I’ve coached before.”
The past two season, Springfield fell in a disrict semifinal to top-seeded St. Thomas Aquinas, which ended up winning the district both years. In 2015 the Tigers made it to a district final before being beaten by Canton Central Catholic.
French said he thinks his team in his opening season will showcase a strong senior class. It will be a senior class looking to get over that district-title hump.
“I met with the kids on Monday and we had a nice conversation,” French said. “I talked with the older gentlemen and we’ve also got some good, young talent.
“I was very impressed with our seniors. I think they’ll show great leadership. They’re very serious about basketball. It’s nice to be in an environment like that.”
Despite it being the summer, French has still been able to work with some of his players already, in smaller groups to get a better idea of what cards he’s holding come the start of the season.
“July we can get in and do open gyms with four guys at a time,” French said. “There’s plans in the works though. I’ll get a look at each of them and their skills. I’ll speak to the returning coaches from the different levels and create some game plans heading into fall workouts.”