Welcome to a unique feature at Roundball Coach - The Coaches Interviews   Bill Kenville recently turned 76.  Roundball Coach called Kenville and wished him a Happy Birthday and he was kind enough, after a trip to the dentist, to tell us about the 1955 NBA Finals and share other details about his roundball career.   Audio Interview Gene Conley recently turned 76.  Roundball coach called Gene and wished him a happy birthday.  Conley is the only player to win a World Series Championship and a NBA title.   Listen to this fascinating conversation .   The University of Maine at Machias, a NAIA Division II school, has player who is dominating two defensive categories nationally. David Butler is averaging 14 rebounds and 5.8 blocks. In addition he is leading his team in scoring with an average of 19.8. Brac Brady, a Floridian, is the coach of the Clippers and he talks to Roundball Coach about Butler, his 9-3 team and how a native of the sunshine state wound up in Maine.  Audio Benny Dees, the former Wyoming, New Orleans, Western Carolina and VCU head coach, spent his 72nd birthday coaching high school basketball and he still loves the challenge of working with the kids and winning games.  Audio Doug Hassol has spent his whole career coaching in his home county in southeast Georgia. This season his Tattnall County High School Warriors are off to a 13-1 start and the Double A school has knocked off five teams from larger classifications.  Audio          Coaches talk about officials  Audio Roundball Coach explores the relationship between coaches and referees They work in the same universe, but sometimes their worlds collide   A veteran official talks about dealing with coaches  Audio The Sharpe cousins are turning around two struggling programs Emmanuel College Lions  Normally when you check the standings in the Southern States Athletic Conference you will find Emmanuel College, in Franklin Springs, Georgia, at or near the bottom. But not this season. Second year head coach Andy Sharpe has the Lions playing their best ball since the school was a junior college. On January 6 Emmanuel shocked the NAIA world by upsetting 7th ranked Faulkner 87-72. Coach Sharpe discusses that win and his program with Roundball Coach.   Audio      When Allen Sharpe left Truett McConnell College (Georgia) in the summer of 2005 for another junior college job at Wallace State in Hanceville, Alabama, the local newspaper gave Sharpe quite a sendoff. After all Sharpe had brought winning and enthusiasm to the small school located in Cleveland. At one point in his final season Sharpe’s Bears were 19-0. Wallace State went 16-15 in Sharpe’s first season, but 11 games into his second season the Lions are undefeated and are ranked seventh in the last JUCO Division I poll. Sharpe spoke recently with Roundball Coach.  Audio Georgia Southern redshirt freshman Jared Collins recently visited Cameron Indoor Arena.  Listen to his vivid desciption of what it is like to be a visiting player on Duke's home floor.  Audio   Meet David Boyd- a coach who has won four high school state championships in Georgia   Audio One of the big 5A schools to watch, in Georgia High School Basketball, is Johnson High out of Savannah. The Atom Smashers are a tall and talented team that features 6-foot-8 Toby Veal. Veal is a rising junior and is being recruited by SEC and ACC schools. Listen as coach Keith Arrington talks about his team and coaching in ultra-competitive Costal Georgia.  Audio Interview            The Appling County High School Pirates in Baxley, Georgia have opened their season with some nice wins.  Listen as head coach Tommy Dalley talks about his 2006-07 team in a Roundball Coach interview.  Audio   Dalley's Pirates played in the Jeff Davis Tournament. Here is an audio report on their first two games.  Audio           On December 10 North Country Community College (Saranac Lake, New York) coach Chad Ladue and his Saints were in a precarious position. The Saints were down 24 points with 15 minutes to play at Onondaga.  So what does a coach do to rally his team to a 76-75 victory, in a game decided by a buzzer beating 3-pointer by Al Miller?  Find out by listening to an interview with Coach LaDue.  Audio          Scott Moe- Middle Georgia College   Scott Moe has been coaching roundball since 1988 when he worked at Duluth High School in Georgia.  In 1991 he moved on to a Division II assistants job at Valdosta State and then in 2000 he took over as the head coach at Middle Georgia College, a junior college in Cochran.  His Warriors have had two 20 win seasons and in 2002-03 they went 27-6 and played for the Region XVII Championship. Audio Clip (12:28) Scott Moe Interview   Middle Georgia Basketball   Gordon Gibbons- Clayton State University  Clayton State’s Gordon Gibbons has won 343 games at the Division II level.  In 10 seasons at South Florida he had a 75% winning percentage.  His best team, in 1999-2000, went 32-2, was ranked number one in the final Division II poll and advanced to the Elite 8 in the National Tournament.  The past five seasons Gibbons has been coaching at Clayton State, located in Lake City, Georgia, just minutes south of Atlanta. Gibbons has not only won 66% of his games, but his Lakers have become a top contender in the very tough Peach Belt Conference and now there are receiving national recognition. Audio Clip (14:38) Gordon Gibbons Interview    Clayton State Basketball     Bruce Stewart- Okaloosa-Walton College   Bruce Stewart’s coaching career has taken him to many levels of basketball- from JUCO to NAIA to Division I and to the CBA.  At the junior college and college level, he has won 76% of his games.  In the minor league CBA, he won three division titles and coached in one championship series.  At Middle Tennessee, Stewart went to the NCAA Tourney three times and was the OVC coach of the year.  At NAIA West Virginia Wesleyan, his team played in the national championship game.  For the past nine years Stewart has coached Okaloosa-Walton College in Niceville, Florida.  The Raiders have won four Panhandle Conference JUCO titles.  This season Stewart has a young team that has size and a handful of players with the ability to score in double-digits.   Audio Clip (9:01) Bruce Stewart Interview   Okaloosa-Walton Men's Basketball       Kevin Cantwell- Suwanee Sports Academy Kevin Cantwell has been a head coach at Appalachian State and an assistant at that school and also at Georgia Tech.  Working with Bobby Cremins, Cantwell was a part of the Yellow Jackets glory years: three ACC titles and a trip to Final Four.  Presently, Cantwell is the director of basketball programs at the Suwanee Sports Academy near Atlanta.  This facility’s focus is in improving the fundamentals and life skills of young basketball players.    Audio Clip (10:08) Kevin Cantwell Interview    Suwanee Sports Academy   Cory Baldwin- Truett McConnell College   After seven years as an assistant coach at Division II Clayton State in Morrow, Georgia, Jonesboro's Cory Baldwin has taken the head coaching postion at Truett McConnell College in Cleveland, Georgia.  In his first season, Baldwin will be trying to improve on a 13-16 record in the tough GJCAA.    Audio Clip (9:41) Cory Baldwin Interview    Truett McConnell Basketball       Don Butcher- The University of the Cumberlands   In 2001 Don Butcher has been associated with the University of the Cumberlands since 1989; first as an assistant coach and then since 2000 he has been the school's head coach.  Butcher's record at the Kentucky NAIA School, which plays in the ultra-competitive Mid-South Conference, is 135-52.        Audio Clip (11:40) Don Butcher    Patriots Basketball       Chris Wade- Miami Dade College  In 2001 Chris Wade helped South Georgia Technical College, in Americus, reinstate its basketball program and as the head coach he led them to three straight 20-win seasons.  On September 14, 2006 Wade began a new challenge taking the head coaching job at Miami Dade College.   Audio Clip (11:12 ) Chris Wade Interview    Miami Dade Basketball   Greg Walcavich- Edinboro University of Pennsylvania  Greg Walcavich needs only 35 victories to join the 500 club.  Walcavich has been a head coach at Alexander City Junior College, Birmingham-Southern College, Rice University, West Virginia Wesleyan and Edinboro University of Pennsylvania for the past 17 seasons.  He has won 66% of his games and in 2006-07 his Fighting Scots will be trying to win their third straight PSAC Title. Audio Clip (16:19) Greg Walcavich Interview    Fighting Scots Basketball             Steve Barker- Brewton Parker College  In his 22-year college coaching career Brewton Parker's Steve Barker has established a reputation as a coach who has his team very well prepared for every game.  A coach who has an offensive play for any and every offensive situation.  As a player, Barker averaged 18 points per game over his four-year career at Samford University.  As a coach he has won 365 games working at two NAIA schools in Georgia.        Audio Clip (21:45) Steve Barker Interview    BPC Basketball       Eddie Quick- Daniel Webster College   Eddie Quick has been successful at every stop in his roundball career. As a player at West Connecticut State University, Quick was a part of a program that went 94-19 and won one ECAC title and made three straight NCAA tournament appearances including an appearance in the Division III “Elite Eight”.  As a high school Coach Quick was successful at both Glastonbury and Hartford Public School High.  Now he will try to continue his success at Daniel Webster College in Nashua, New Hampshire.   Audio Clip (10:08) Eddie Quick interview    DWC Basketball     Jack Schweers- Trinity Presbyterian High School Jack Schweers is a roundball freak.  He loves to read about, talk about and coach the game.  Schweers has been very successful as both an assistant and head coach.  In a long career he has very rarely experienced a losing season.  Jack currently is the head coach of Trinity Presbyterian High School in Montgomery, Alabama.  His Wildcats won a state championship in the late 90's and back in the late 80's, while an assistant coach at Auburn-University at Montgomery, Jack came within a shot in overtime of being part of a national championship season.    Audio Clip (20:53) Jack Schweers interview    Trinity Athletics         Donnie Arrington- Toombs County High School  Donnie Arrington is the head coach of the Toombs County High Bulldogs, a Double AA school in Lyons, Georgia.  Arrington has been in the coaching profession for a quarter of a century including the past decade at Toombs County.  Coach Arrington talks about his roundball influences, his back-to-back region championship teams, coaching basketball in a football state, his offensive strategies and more in this candid interview. Audio Clip (15:22) Donnie Arrington interview    TCHS Basketball