Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, April 7, 1991 TAG: 9104070053
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB TEITLEBAUM SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Patrick Henry's Woody Deans saw his boys' basketball team bounce back from a 7-14 record a year ago to join the state's Group AAA elite, ending the season with a 22-5 record after a last-second loss in the state tournament.
Rod Reedy took over a downtrodden girls' program at Pulaski County 10 years ago, and this season watched the Cougars come close to pulling off what would have been a shocking upset on a national scale in the Group AAA tournament.
For those reasons, Deans and Reedy are Timesland basketball coaches of the year. Both had to overcome stiff competition.
Deans, who won this award for the 1988 season when PH won the state title, beat out Northside's Billy Pope, who, like Reedy, has revitalized a program. The Vikings were 23-3 and made an appearance in the Group AA tournament.
Reedy beat out Radford's Brenda King, who hopes to be head coach for the Bobcats' boys' team next year. King's girls' team won the Group AA championship for the second time in three years and was her third state-final team in three years as coach.
The turnaround for Deans, whose career record is 148-50, was spectacular after the Patriots had their only losing season under the veteran coach. Last year, PH stumbled through dissension and team squabbles, but Deans got all the players back together and molded a good record against what arguably was the state's toughest schedule.
Deans wasn't one to give up. "Tough times don't last, but tough people do," said Deans after PH was pounded by Pulaski County 61-49 in the 1989-90 Roanoke Valley District postseason tournament.
He refuses to take credit for the turnaround against a schedule that included two opponents ranked in USA Today's Top 25 - Harker (Md.) and St. Anthony's (N.J.) - and the defending Group AAA champion from Georgia, Atlanta Southside.
"It's the old saying that players win games and coaches lose them," Deans said. "I think any recognition I get is because of the kids."
When Reedy took over at Pulaski County for the 1981-82 season, the Cougars had won only four of 94 games. Consequently, it took awhile to get the program on its feet.
"The job was offered to me by [athletic director] Carl Lindstrom. He was pretty straightforward about the situation in that he told me the history and what I was getting into," said Reedy, who was a basketball player at old Pulaski High School.
The Cougars started piling up firsts in the 1989-90 season, when they played in their first Northwestern Region tournament and, at 16-5, had the school's first winning record. This past season, they beat perennial power Cave Spring for the first time and made their first trip to the Group AAA tournament, where they trailed nationally ranked James Madison of Vienna 46-42 after three quarters before succumbing 65-47 in the championship game.
"The success at Pulaski County is not just because of me," Reedy said. "The last few years, our middle-school programs have been full-speed ahead and our recreation programs are doing a great job."
by CNB