By Jason Avery
News-Times Staff
Junction City boys basketball coach Kendall Hutcheson was back in his element Thursday night.
Due to COVID-19 protocols, Hutcheson missed several games, leaving assistant coach Drew Robinson to guide the team through a good portion of their 8-2A schedule, but Hutcheson was on the bench for the Dragons’ 60-42 win at Hampton.
Cam Frazier had 15 points and Zak Brown added 12 points for the Dragons (10-2, 8-2), who had nine players score in the win.
Junction City hosted Fordyce Friday in a showdown that could go a long way toward determining who comes away with the league crown.
For Hutcheson, being away from the team was very difficult.
“Any time that you have kids that you’ve been around since they first came up, especially like your senior bunch. You spend so much time with them and got to their senior year, so you always want to share that time and moments with them like that,” Hutcheson said.
“I’ve been able to watch a little bit on Facebook Live and some broadcasts people have had, and as I’m watching, there’s stuff that you think that you could change or would change or would do differently, and that always makes it tough because you feel like you can make a difference, but you feel kind of helpless. It’s been very hard for me.”
Robinson said at first he thought he would only be in charge of practice, but once Hutcheson’s absence was going to be longer than originally expected, he moved into the lead chair.
“We thought it was just going to be practice to begin with,” Robinson said. “We didn’t have any games scheduled the first three or four days. Then once everything went down with him going out for another week. We realized that there were going to be five or six games that were scheduled in there.
“At first it was a little overwhelming because when I took the position, it was assistant basketball. Coach called me and said, ‘I’ve got faith in you. The kids have got faith in you. You’re going to do great and we’ll be fine. Don’t worry about it and just do the things that you know to do and I’ll be back in a couple of weeks.’ The first day or two was overwhelming, but once we got into the hang of things, we got going. The kids responded well. They knew what we were here to do as far as handling our business on day-to-day things.”
Despite not having their head coach with them, the Dragons have put themselves in a position to potentially host key games in the district tournament with higher-seeded teams hosting instead of having all schools at one location due to the pandemic.
Robinson said that is a tribute to the players.
“They knew coming in that I was going to be new to the head coaching gig,” Robinson said. “They knew I would take care of practice and games and everything. They told me, ‘Coach, we’ve got your back. We know coach Hutch is out. We know what we’re here to do and what we’re supposed to do. We’re not going to let you down. We’re not going to change the way we do things just because coach is not here.’ And they didn’t.
“For two weeks, they’ve been 100 percent locked in. We had a few hiccups as far as games, but they bounced back the next night. The main thing I felt was that they trusted me the way coach Hutch did and I trusted them. We’ve got a great group of kids. They know what is expected of them. They didn’t change anything as far as preparing for the games or practice. They knew that nothing was going to change.”
Robinson also credited Hutcheson for help preparing him in case the situation came to fruition.
“It’s a tribute to coach Hutch preparing me over the last couple of months,” Robinson said. “We always knew that it could happen any day that he could be without me as an assistant or I could be without him as the head guy where I would have to step in. We had discussed it before and we had walked through the things that would need to be done as far as contacting people, talking to different coaches around the league, talking with the administration.
“The big thing is he prepared me to be able to take over. The kids also knew it. They had been prepared just like he wasn’t there. They knew that it could happen, and when it did, nothing really slowed down. We kept going about our daily routine. We didn’t change anything. The only difference was I was calling the plays and setting them up and they were listening to me instead of him this time.”
Social media has provided an outlet for fans and coaches alike to watch games when few people have been allowed to attend events, but even watching the Dragons in that setting was difficult for Hutcheson.
“My wife said it was tough to watch me during a game because I don’t sit still. I can’t quit moving. I’m upset yelling at my tablet or cheering at my tablet,” Hutcheson said. “It’s really frustrating not being able to help, and the most frustrating thing is when you see kids struggling on the floor and you think you know something that can make it easier for them, but you can’t communicate that to the kids. That makes it tough and really, really frustrating on my end.”
Although he was able to watch some games, Hutcheson said there was one game where all he could do was wait for a call afterward to see how things transpired.
“When they went to Woodlawn, you barely have any service in the gym, so I didn’t know how the game was going at all. I had zero clue. I knew about what time the game would start, and I didn’t get a single update until the game was over and they got on the bus,” Hutcheson said. “That makes it really, really tough.
“I’m not a huge fan of social media, but for all of its negatives, being able for parents, grandparents or like myself being away from it and able to at least catch some of the game or moments of the game, it kept me sane a little bit and it kind of drove me crazy a little bit. I don’t know what’s better, knowing or not knowing, but it’s always good for the kids to be able to share stuff with their families.”
Hutcheson added that there was no chance of canceling any games although he wouldn’t be coaching.
“The kids are the ones who play the games,” Hutcheson said. “Someone asked me if we were going to cancel some games when I couldn’t be there and I said, ‘Absolutely not.’ They deserve to play every game that they can play. They understand how to play the game. Coach Robinson is doing a great job trying to pick up basketball, learn what’s going on and learning what we do. He’s good with the kids.
“We’ve got to learn how to work together. The kids know what to do, so for them, they needed to play games. It’s about them. It’s not about me, so there was never a moment’s time when we were thinking about canceling any games because of me.”
Hutcheson may be back on the bench, but he was appreciative of the job Robinson did while he was gone.
“When he got here, he said, ‘Listen, I will help with basketball. I’d be glad to do that. I played a little bit when I was younger, but I don’t really know what you’re doing. I’m going to have to learn a lot.’ He’s done a great job,” Hutcheson said. “He asks questions and is paying attention and getting all of the input he could. He takes pride in what he does, and he wants to do the best job he can possibly do.
“That’s all you can ask for. Nobody expects him to go out there and do the same things I would do because no coach does. He’s trying to keep the kids playing hard, doing what me and him talk about and we communicate frequently about what I want the kids to do. He’s been a tremendous help.”