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06-03-2012, 05:36 AM
Rodrick Rhodes laughs when asked what he learned in his first season coaching high school basketball coach at tiny Cordia in Eastern Kentucky.
"Every parent thinks their kid is Anthony Davis," said the early-1990s-era Kentucky Wildcats forward, referencing last season's UK star.
Last December, I went to Knott County to look in on Rhodes early in his first season. Thought I would update you on how his full season turned out.
Rhodes did not work a competitive miracle at Cordia (some 300 students in grades K-12), a school that has not won a game in the 14th Region Tournament in this century. He did raise the season win total from seven in 2010-11 to 11 (11-18) in 2011-12.
"I did enjoy it," said Rhodes, a former college aide at Massachusetts, Idaho State and Texas-Pan American. "Coaching at the high school level, you just wear so many hats."
When Rhodes took the head coaching job at Cordia last summer, there was intense curiosity. It's not every day that a former UK standout, a former NBA player and an experienced Division I college assistant turns up coaching high school hoops in the mountains of Eastern Kentucky.
Alice Whitaker, the director of the Cordia school, says having Rhodes in the Lotts Creek community "has been wonderful. Totally great. He's added a wonderful dimension to our community. He's well-respected and accepted in our community. And I believe he's brought us some much-needed diversity. I believe we've added four or five minority students that wouldn't be here if it weren't for Rodrick."
Not everything went smoothly for the first-year head coach.
"I wound up having to kick, probably, three of my best players off the team," Rhodes said. "They were all seniors. That was tough.
"The other thing, when you've been a good player yourself, you expect people to be able to do things as you could do it. Well, that is not the case. I literally had to go back to the basics of the game and start there. That was the part to me that was the most challenging. It was a learning experience."
Rhodes wound up serving a four-game suspension this season after getting thrown out of two different games.
"In one of them, our 6-foot-5 kid (Chris Hudson) was up in the air and got clotheslined," Rhodes said. "I went out on the court trying to protect my player and I guess in the opinion of the (referees) I went too far."
The other case where he got tossed, Rhodes said, came in a game in which he was working under a stipulation from the officials that he could not get off the bench during live action. During the game, there was a discrepancy with the Cordia players' numbers listed in the official score book. In a stoppage of action, Rhodes said he went to the scorer's table to address that.
While there, a woman who had asked him to sign an autograph for her grandson before the game, asked him again and said she would not be able to wait until after the contest ended.
"I'm coaching and I want to be focused (on the game) but I didn't want to say no, so I was signing that," Rhodes said. "Well, (while) I'm doing that, they started the game back up and I got teed up again for being up. It was crazy."
From the moment the Jersey City, N.J., product signed on to work in rural Knott County, people have wondered how long he'll stay.
"I plan on staying. That's the God's honest truth," Rhodes said. "I guess if a school in Lexington or Louisville wanted to talk, you'd listen. But that hasn't happened. My plan now is to stay."
Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2012/06/02/22102...rylink=cpy
"Every parent thinks their kid is Anthony Davis," said the early-1990s-era Kentucky Wildcats forward, referencing last season's UK star.
Last December, I went to Knott County to look in on Rhodes early in his first season. Thought I would update you on how his full season turned out.
Rhodes did not work a competitive miracle at Cordia (some 300 students in grades K-12), a school that has not won a game in the 14th Region Tournament in this century. He did raise the season win total from seven in 2010-11 to 11 (11-18) in 2011-12.
"I did enjoy it," said Rhodes, a former college aide at Massachusetts, Idaho State and Texas-Pan American. "Coaching at the high school level, you just wear so many hats."
When Rhodes took the head coaching job at Cordia last summer, there was intense curiosity. It's not every day that a former UK standout, a former NBA player and an experienced Division I college assistant turns up coaching high school hoops in the mountains of Eastern Kentucky.
Alice Whitaker, the director of the Cordia school, says having Rhodes in the Lotts Creek community "has been wonderful. Totally great. He's added a wonderful dimension to our community. He's well-respected and accepted in our community. And I believe he's brought us some much-needed diversity. I believe we've added four or five minority students that wouldn't be here if it weren't for Rodrick."
Not everything went smoothly for the first-year head coach.
"I wound up having to kick, probably, three of my best players off the team," Rhodes said. "They were all seniors. That was tough.
"The other thing, when you've been a good player yourself, you expect people to be able to do things as you could do it. Well, that is not the case. I literally had to go back to the basics of the game and start there. That was the part to me that was the most challenging. It was a learning experience."
Rhodes wound up serving a four-game suspension this season after getting thrown out of two different games.
"In one of them, our 6-foot-5 kid (Chris Hudson) was up in the air and got clotheslined," Rhodes said. "I went out on the court trying to protect my player and I guess in the opinion of the (referees) I went too far."
The other case where he got tossed, Rhodes said, came in a game in which he was working under a stipulation from the officials that he could not get off the bench during live action. During the game, there was a discrepancy with the Cordia players' numbers listed in the official score book. In a stoppage of action, Rhodes said he went to the scorer's table to address that.
While there, a woman who had asked him to sign an autograph for her grandson before the game, asked him again and said she would not be able to wait until after the contest ended.
"I'm coaching and I want to be focused (on the game) but I didn't want to say no, so I was signing that," Rhodes said. "Well, (while) I'm doing that, they started the game back up and I got teed up again for being up. It was crazy."
From the moment the Jersey City, N.J., product signed on to work in rural Knott County, people have wondered how long he'll stay.
"I plan on staying. That's the God's honest truth," Rhodes said. "I guess if a school in Lexington or Louisville wanted to talk, you'd listen. But that hasn't happened. My plan now is to stay."
Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2012/06/02/22102...rylink=cpy
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06-03-2012, 05:36 AM
06-05-2012, 04:55 PM
How many seniors did they loose?
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
[COLOR="Blue"]
My Priorities are:
1)God
2)Family
3)Cougar Athletics!
Everything else doesn't matter![/COLOR]
[COLOR="Blue"]
My Priorities are:
1)God
2)Family
3)Cougar Athletics!
Everything else doesn't matter![/COLOR]
06-06-2012, 12:11 AM
"I guess if a school in Lexington or Louisville wanted to talk, you'd listen. But that hasn't happened. My plan now is to stay."
In other words, somebody offer me a damn job so i can get the hell out of here lol.
In other words, somebody offer me a damn job so i can get the hell out of here lol.
06-09-2012, 04:38 PM
Stardust Wrote:Rodrick Rhodes laughs when asked what he learned in his first season coaching high school basketball coach at tiny Cordia in Eastern Kentucky.Just to set the record straight Cordia was 55th district champions and won a regional tournament game in 1992-93, first round over Owsley County. Also in 1993-94 shocked Powell County in the first round of the regional tournament. Cordia is not a basketball power and never will be but don't act like Rhodes has taken over a program that has never had a winning season. Respect is earned not give based on your past!!!!
"Every parent thinks their kid is Anthony Davis," said the early-1990s-era Kentucky Wildcats forward, referencing last season's UK star.
Last December, I went to Knott County to look in on Rhodes early in his first season. Thought I would update you on how his full season turned out.
Rhodes did not work a competitive miracle at Cordia (some 300 students in grades K-12), a school that has not won a game in the 14th Region Tournament in this century. He did raise the season win total from seven in 2010-11 to 11 (11-18) in 2011-12.
"I did enjoy it," said Rhodes, a former college aide at Massachusetts, Idaho State and Texas-Pan American. "Coaching at the high school level, you just wear so many hats."
When Rhodes took the head coaching job at Cordia last summer, there was intense curiosity. It's not every day that a former UK standout, a former NBA player and an experienced Division I college assistant turns up coaching high school hoops in the mountains of Eastern Kentucky.
Alice Whitaker, the director of the Cordia school, says having Rhodes in the Lotts Creek community "has been wonderful. Totally great. He's added a wonderful dimension to our community. He's well-respected and accepted in our community. And I believe he's brought us some much-needed diversity. I believe we've added four or five minority students that wouldn't be here if it weren't for Rodrick."
Not everything went smoothly for the first-year head coach.
"I wound up having to kick, probably, three of my best players off the team," Rhodes said. "They were all seniors. That was tough.
"The other thing, when you've been a good player yourself, you expect people to be able to do things as you could do it. Well, that is not the case. I literally had to go back to the basics of the game and start there. That was the part to me that was the most challenging. It was a learning experience."
Rhodes wound up serving a four-game suspension this season after getting thrown out of two different games.
"In one of them, our 6-foot-5 kid (Chris Hudson) was up in the air and got clotheslined," Rhodes said. "I went out on the court trying to protect my player and I guess in the opinion of the (referees) I went too far."
The other case where he got tossed, Rhodes said, came in a game in which he was working under a stipulation from the officials that he could not get off the bench during live action. During the game, there was a discrepancy with the Cordia players' numbers listed in the official score book. In a stoppage of action, Rhodes said he went to the scorer's table to address that.
While there, a woman who had asked him to sign an autograph for her grandson before the game, asked him again and said she would not be able to wait until after the contest ended.
"I'm coaching and I want to be focused (on the game) but I didn't want to say no, so I was signing that," Rhodes said. "Well, (while) I'm doing that, they started the game back up and I got teed up again for being up. It was crazy."
From the moment the Jersey City, N.J., product signed on to work in rural Knott County, people have wondered how long he'll stay.
"I plan on staying. That's the God's honest truth," Rhodes said. "I guess if a school in Lexington or Louisville wanted to talk, you'd listen. But that hasn't happened. My plan now is to stay."
Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2012/06/02/22102...rylink=cpy
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