Initially, Greg Zimmerman's hiring as Alderson-Broaddus men's basketball coach did not meet the players' approval whatsoever. Many of them considered transferring.
Initially, Greg Zimmerman's hiring as Alderson-Broaddus men's basketball coach did not meet the players' approval whatsoever. Many of them considered transferring.
Zimmerman's arrival came in the first week of November 2001 in what seemed like an emergency hire to fill a last-minute coaching vacancy. The Battlers' opening game was just two weeks away, and they were coming off a 7-11 West Virginia Conference season and a first-round tournament exit. The usual preseason optimism was not in the air.
"When Coach Zimmerman first got there,'' recalled Stephen Dye, a freshman on that team, "most of us did not like him at all. He was different from what we had had. We were skeptical anyway because he got there two weeks before the season.''
The Battlers were not accustomed to such a demanding coach.
"He was hard on us, and we weren't prepared for it,'' said Dye, a Marsh Fork graduate who works as a Glenville State assistant basketball coach. "He was extremely tough and hard-nosed. You had to be mentally tough to be part of his program.''
Many of the players began weighing other college basketball options.
"I was ready to pack it up and leave,'' said Josh Allen, another freshman in Zimmerman's first season. "It started off a little rocky when he first came in.''
Zimmerman's hard-nosed demands have never diminished, of course, but the rocky start quickly gave way to acceptance and eventually full-blown respect and even a degree of reverence. After about four games of that first season, Allen recalled, the Battlers knew the man could coach.
Zimmerman, an Ohio native and a 1978 Alderson-Broaddus graduate, has continued to do so and has compiled an extraordinary basketball portfolio in his A-B tenure:
His .778 winning percentage at the 800-student school is the best in the 283-member NCAA Division II among coaches with five or more years of experience;In his seven seasons, his teams have qualified for the NCAA D-II tournament every year and reached the final 16 in 2004 and '06;His teams have won the WVC tournament championship four times, lost in the finals once and reached the semifinals twice, and they've won two WVC regular-season titles and finished second five times;In the 2006-07 season, he led the Battlers to an 18-0 conference record in the regular season;He's never lost more than three of 18 regular-season WVC games in his seven seasons, despite taking over after preseason practice already had begun in 2001.One of his proudest accomplishments, he says, is that his players have always behaved themselves. "We've been here going on eight years,'' he said recently, "and we haven't had any problem with the kids - zero problems with kids off the floor.''
Zimmerman, a former All-WVC player who finished second in conference scoring in 1977, had coached in Ohio before taking over for Brett Vincent as A-B coach midway through preseason practice in 2001.
That first season set the tone for what would follow and perhaps was his most impressive, especially in light of his late arrival and the team's shortcomings in the aftermath of its 7-11 record the previous year.
In addition, the roster consisted of nine players, only six of whom would see much playing time in that first season.
"We were slow, not athletic,'' said Dye. "We were just not very good. We were not the typical West Virginia Conference talent. We were six guys, non-athletic. We couldn't play any defense, and he took us, and we won the [tournament] championship that year. He put us in the right system to win.''
Added Allen, an Independence High graduate who coaches the A-B women's program: "The skill level wasn't there. We had shooters, but we didn't have post players. We had a bunch of guys who had basketball knowledge. He implemented an offense where we had five people out [on the perimeter]. And we'd penetrate and [pass]. We were able to knock down shots. And thankfully, we were able to stay healthy because a lot of us were playing 38 and 39 minutes a game. We didn't have a very deep bench. That type of offense really fit our style.''
Like Allen, Dye considered transferring but is thankful he stayed and reaped the benefits of Zimmerman's coaching.
"I can't talk enough about how good I think he is and how much he helped me on and off the court,'' said Dye. "He's just an amazing coach. I did not know or understand the game until I got to A-B. He taught me so much about the game that I would never even have thought of if I hadn't been there.''
Initially, Greg Zimmerman's hiring as Alderson-Broaddus men's basketball coach did not meet the players' approval whatsoever. Many of them considered transferring.
Zimmerman's arrival came in the first week of November 2001 in what seemed like an emergency hire to fill a last-minute coaching vacancy. The Battlers' opening game was just two weeks away, and they were coming off a 7-11 West Virginia Conference season and a first-round tournament exit. The usual preseason optimism was not in the air.
"When Coach Zimmerman first got there,'' recalled Stephen Dye, a freshman on that team, "most of us did not like him at all. He was different from what we had had. We were skeptical anyway because he got there two weeks before the season.''
The Battlers were not accustomed to such a demanding coach.
"He was hard on us, and we weren't prepared for it,'' said Dye, a Marsh Fork graduate who works as a Glenville State assistant basketball coach. "He was extremely tough and hard-nosed. You had to be mentally tough to be part of his program.''
Many of the players began weighing other college basketball options.
"I was ready to pack it up and leave,'' said Josh Allen, another freshman in Zimmerman's first season. "It started off a little rocky when he first came in.''
Zimmerman's hard-nosed demands have never diminished, of course, but the rocky start quickly gave way to acceptance and eventually full-blown respect and even a degree of reverence. After about four games of that first season, Allen recalled, the Battlers knew the man could coach.
Zimmerman, an Ohio native and a 1978 Alderson-Broaddus graduate, has continued to do so and has compiled an extraordinary basketball portfolio in his A-B tenure:
His .778 winning percentage at the 800-student school is the best in the 283-member NCAA Division II among coaches with five or more years of experience;In his seven seasons, his teams have qualified for the NCAA D-II tournament every year and reached the final 16 in 2004 and '06;His teams have won the WVC tournament championship four times, lost in the finals once and reached the semifinals twice, and they've won two WVC regular-season titles and finished second five times;In the 2006-07 season, he led the Battlers to an 18-0 conference record in the regular season;He's never lost more than three of 18 regular-season WVC games in his seven seasons, despite taking over after preseason practice already had begun in 2001.One of his proudest accomplishments, he says, is that his players have always behaved themselves. "We've been here going on eight years,'' he said recently, "and we haven't had any problem with the kids - zero problems with kids off the floor.''Zimmerman, a former All-WVC player who finished second in conference scoring in 1977, had coached in Ohio before taking over for Brett Vincent as A-B coach midway through preseason practice in 2001.
That first season set the tone for what would follow and perhaps was his most impressive, especially in light of his late arrival and the team's shortcomings in the aftermath of its 7-11 record the previous year.
In addition, the roster consisted of nine players, only six of whom would see much playing time in that first season.
"We were slow, not athletic,'' said Dye. "We were just not very good. We were not the typical West Virginia Conference talent. We were six guys, non-athletic. We couldn't play any defense, and he took us, and we won the [tournament] championship that year. He put us in the right system to win.''
Added Allen, an Independence High graduate who coaches the A-B women's program: "The skill level wasn't there. We had shooters, but we didn't have post players. We had a bunch of guys who had basketball knowledge. He implemented an offense where we had five people out [on the perimeter]. And we'd penetrate and [pass]. We were able to knock down shots. And thankfully, we were able to stay healthy because a lot of us were playing 38 and 39 minutes a game. We didn't have a very deep bench. That type of offense really fit our style.''
Like Allen, Dye considered transferring but is thankful he stayed and reaped the benefits of Zimmerman's coaching.
"I can't talk enough about how good I think he is and how much he helped me on and off the court,'' said Dye. "He's just an amazing coach. I did not know or understand the game until I got to A-B. He taught me so much about the game that I would never even have thought of if I hadn't been there.''
In that first season, the Battlers were 15-3 in the WVC to finish second behind Wesleyan and were 21-8 overall. In the WVC tournament title game, they defeated the University of Charleston 88-86.
nnSeven years later, Zimmerman is still using an up-tempo, guard-oriented offense in an era when big men rarely choose Division II schools. Moreover, his Battlers still command their customary respect, having placed second behind West Virginia State in this year's preseason poll of coaches.
"We try to open the floor up and try to utilize the players' talents,'' Zimmerman explained. "Instead of clogging the lane, we try to bring people away from the basket and try to attack the basket from there.''
Zimmerman attended Garaway High School and played for coach Tom Andreas in the basketball-mad community of Sugar Creek, Ohio, where season-ticket holders filled the seats and where the team's tournament appearances were like local holidays.
As a second-grader, Zimmerman played on a team that performed ball-handling exhibitions at halftime of the high school team's games. Even at that age, he was listening to high school basketball games on radio.
Later, he developed a friendship with coach Charlie Huggins, who coached at nearby Ohio schools in Strasburg and Indian Valley. It was from Huggins that Zimmerman picked up a solid basketball education.
"The guy who taught me the most basketball without a doubt was Charlie Huggins,'' he said. "I worked his camp for 10 years and became close with him, not just as his being a mentor to me but as a really true Christian friend. He really inspired me. Any questions I have for him, he's just tremendous. He's a basketball genius. Just look at his son [Bob Huggins, who coaches at West Virginia]. He's doing stuff that Charlie was doing 30 years ago. Charlie is very instrumental in any success I've had.''
nnHelped by his on-court consistency, Zimmerman has succeeded in recruiting solid talent to Philippi, a Barbour County community of 2,800. He admits, however, it's not easy.
"We're in a rural area and there's not a lot to do,'' he said. "But we try to tell them they can get a very good education at a private institution. The distractions are minimal and you have a chance to play, hopefully, for a good basketball team. We don't lie to the kids. We realize that if we get kids in here and they don't like it, they're going to leave. I tell them exactly the way it's going to be. And a lot of times we don't get the kids. And we've had kids who left. Some left and came back. Some kids, especially out-of-state kids, are looking for that big-time college atmosphere, and it's not here. The freshmen, a lot of times, are the difficult ones because they're looking for a little bit more. They watch TV and see Duke and West Virginia and all that, and they get to A-B and - guess what - it's not like that.''
As one of the nation's best Division II programs, A-B often attracts players who began their careers in D-I but, after finding themselves spending too much time on the bench, seek more playing time elsewhere.
"They realize they just want to play basketball,'' he said. "We get a lot of second-chance kids, maybe kids who had gone to Division I schools and didn't make it. And when [the Division I] part is gone, they just want to play. They're not worried about all the other things in the college life. It's more important for them to come and get their education and play basketball. You only have so many friends and do so many things anyhow.''
Zimmerman's college playing days came in what is considered the West Virginia Conference's golden era. Because it preceded ESPN's nightly onslaught of college basketball, conference games often drew big crowds, especially at tournament time in Charleston.
"The conference tournament was unbelievable back then. I remember playing Morris Harvey [now the University of Charleston] in the opening round, and in prime time the place was full,'' he recalled. "That's maybe the thing I miss most about the conference tournament, even though it's exciting the way it is and it gets decent crowds. Back then, all the teams went, and it was just packed.''
The townspeople of Philippi and the A-B students often fill the school's 1,500-seat gym, but the days of packed houses for the conference tournament are probably gone forever.
Zimmerman, however, is likely to continue spreading the floor and playing an up-tempo offense. And his players, unlike those who greeted him in his first few weeks on the job, are not likely to question his methods.
Reach Mike Whiteford at 348-7948 or mikewhitef...@wvgazette.com
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