Legends rarely fall into a coach's lap at a Division III Junior College. A year after we won the Regional tournament for the first time in school history, I was hired to replace the Head Coach who had departed for a coaching gig as an assistant at a Division I school. That championship squad featured the nation's best player and the region's top point guard. We were really good! It goes without saying that I felt a considerable amount of pressure going into my first season knowing that I had to keep the program atop the region without those aforementioned stars. My anxiety was alleviated, however, when I met Nova.
In my first season, I took everything guys said to me at face value figuring that a guy wouldn't just lie about his ability when I'm going to see him play anyway. On a random day late in the summer, and close to the start of the school year, Nova came to campus to apply for school and sign up for classes. He asked for the basketball coach and was pointed in my direction. At 6'6 with a good body and huge hands, Nova looked like a legit ball player.
Nova told me that some coaches from Villanova, an elite Division I program in Philly, were in his New York City apartment trying to recruit him. He explained to me that the reason things didn't work out with Villanova was because he had gotten into some unspecified trouble--which is why he came out here. With a new circle of friends in a new environment, he surmised, the doors of opportunity would fly open at some of the nation's top basketball programs.
I took Nova up to the gym for a quick look at his skill set. I had him slated to be the team's starting center before he even set foot on the court. Nova said he was better than our outgoing MVP whose jersey is now retired in the gym. He put on a show during the workout that I will never ever forget.
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