There's something about Greene County
The coaching carousel turned round and round and finally it stopped.
The much-anticipated announcements surrounding the varsity boys basketball coaching vacancies at Shakamak and Bloomfield came out publicly this week.
A month ago former Lakers coach J.B. Neill was hired to replace Dave Mahurin at Edgewood. The Bloomfield coaching position had been open for seven weeks since Matt Britton stepped aside.
Speculation was running rampant. A new school year was fast approaching.
Now the merry-go-round ride is over. The suspense has ended. And a couple native sons are returning to their Greene County roots.
Nate O'Neall arrives at Shakamak after six years at North Vermillion. While there he was head coach of three varsity sports - baseball, cross country and girls basketball. O'Neall also coached boys junior varsity basketball for four seasons.
The new basketball coach will also assume the roles Neill filled as Athletic Director and Dean of Students.
The 2004 Bloomfield graduate was a four-sport athlete in high school and ran cross country and track at Franklin College.
"I'm just happy to be back in Greene County," O'Neall told the Shakamak school board members at Monday's special meeting when he was hired.
In a fantasy world the Bloomfield son might have gotten the Cardinals' job.
But the Bloomfield post instead went to a former Eastern Greene Thunderbird, Jamie Hudson.
The 1995 Eastern Greene grad arrives at Bloomfield by way of Bedford North Lawrence.
Hudson posted a winning record of 11 games over .500 in his nine-year tenure as head coach of the BNL Stars.
The new coach's hiring won't be made "official" until the next regularly scheduled school board meeting August 25.
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I'm sure there were plenty of interested candidates vying for the Bloomfield position.
One candidate I know of who was highly interested was Steve Brett.
Somehow I sensed Steve would get the itch to get back into coaching after a year of retirement.
Brett's first head coaching job of course was at Bloomfield where he spent 16 years. And he hoped to make it his final destination, returning to coach the Cardinals for one last go-around.
Apparently Bloomfield wasn't as interested.
As time passed with no word I became less optimistic about Brett's chances. I figured if they were going to hire Steve they would have done so almost immediately.
Instead, Steve Brett will end up right back where he started 44 years ago - at Vincennes Lincoln.
Brett began his coaching career as freshman coach at Vincennes for Hall of Fame coach Orlando "Gunner" Wyman.
He's returning to help out one of his former Cardinal players, Josh Thompson. Thompson was named the Alices head coach earlier this year.
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And two new basketball coaches are returning to the place they started.
Well, not exactly. But close enough.
After Hudson received his job offer, Travis David tweeted, "Must be something about Greene County...both Hudson and Shakamak new coach Nate O'Neall are Greene County products, coached elsewhere and are now back."
And as one reader commented, "The 'boys' sure are returning home, Nate on Monday and now Jamie."
So maybe there is something about Greene County - and the brand of basketball played here.
Cloverdale coach Patrick Rady is a believer.
I interviewed Patrick for the first time last November at the J7 Shootout in Linton which kicked off the 2015-16 season.
Rady's Clovers had just lost to the Miners by 14. Yet all Rady could talk about was his admiration for Greene County basketball.
And he could scarcely contain his enthusiasm.
The Cloverdale coach raved about the game atmosphere, our supportive and passionate fan bases and our natural rivalries.
And Rady continued in the same vein at the Wabash Valley Classic pairings meeting last winter. According to Travis, the Clovers' bench boss spent five minutes of an eight-minute interview singing the praises of Greene County basketball.
At the Shakamak board meeting for his hiring, O'Neall revealed it was always part of his plan to return to Greene County - the place where he grew up and everybody knows your name. And he cited our passion for athletics as part of the allure bringing him back.
Hudson too is infused with the spirit and tradition we have here in Greene County.
When the BNL Stars visited Eastern Greene last February, it was Hudson who suggested the game be moved to the Toby Yoho Gymnasium - the venue where the coach performed as a Thunderbird player.
He wanted the game to have a "retro" feel by playing in the old gym.
And it's been the same throughout the years.
When Steve Brett started coaching, the Switz City sectional was arguably unrivaled for its intensity and electricity.
I'll never forget the standing room only crowds from years ago. Especially in 1985, L&M's magical season.
There must have been 4,500 people packing the 3,000-seat gym, standing five or six deep all around the perimeter walkway at the top of the bleachers.
It wasn't that way in Terre Haute where North and South took turns beating up on the rest of the sectional field. Or in Vincennes where the Alices had their way with the Knoxes, winning all but five sectionals from 1950 until the advent of class basketball after the 1997 season.
Even class basketball has done little to diminish the fervor - at least here.
Admittedly, the Switz City sectional isn't what it used to be when Linton and Eastern were still in the field. But the in-season rivalries are the same as they ever were - especially when Bloomfield's involved.
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So maybe there really is something about Greene County.
After all, I came back after living away from here for 31 years.
Terry Schwinghammer is a sports writer for the Greene County Daily World. He can be reached by telephone at (812) 847-4487, ext. 27. He can also be reached via email at tschwing32@yahoo.com.
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