(A very nice read by Patrick Hite)
STAUNTON - Chad Edwards has always wanted to be a basketball coach. There have been a few detours on his path, but he never had any real doubt that he would be a coach somewhere, at some level, some day.
In college, Edwards kept a notebook where he would write any information — offensive plays, coaching philosophies, motivational sayings, etc. — that might one day be useful in his coaching career. One of the notes that stood out to him most was about the defense played by Robert E. Lee High School teams.
As a player at Spotswood, Edwards was exhausted after games against Lee High. He described the Lee defense as a meat grinder, and it's exactly how he wanted his future teams to play basketball. Before Edwards' first game at Lee High, his high school coach, Jim Kramer, put an arm around him and explained to the freshman that he was about to be baptized in the ways of basketball.
But while Edwards was struggling with Lee's defense, Lee was trying to find ways to stop Edwards.
"He was a tough player," said Jarrett Hatcher, who played against Edwards in high school and is now the Leemen's head boys basketball coach. "He was one of the only guys we really changed anything for schematically because he was good enough to bring the ball up the floor and he was hard to guard inside. So that senior year Joe Joe Stuart guarded him coming up the floor and then passed him off to Reggie (Waddy). Other than Ralph (Sampson) it's really the only guy we've ever done something special for."
Edwards just laughs at that comparison, but he appreciates the sentiment even if he doesn't believe it.
That experience in high school started a connection between Edwards and Hatcher that continues to strengthen and endure even now when both run their own programs, Edwards at Spotswood and Hatcher at Lee.
The latest chapter in that relationship will be Friday night in Staunton when their teams play. When the two friends square off against one another it's usually the most difficult game for both men to coach.
"The hardest part is and the best part is the handshake afterwards," Hatcher said. "When I've been fortunate enough to beat Chad, I know how hard he works and what it means and you feel bad because that's one of your best friends. And then when you get beat you're really pissed because it's one of your best friends and how can he be doing that to you."
Edwards was born in the Harrisonburg area, but his family soon moved to Texas. Interestingly enough, that's where he first became aware of Lee High basketball. Relatives would send him newspaper clippings about Sampson's exploits at Harrisonburg High School, and Edwards kept noticing that one of the few teams to give Sampson fits was Lee High.
When Edwards' family moved back to Virginia, he discovered that his dad had played college basketball with then Lee coach Paul Hatcher, who would win 897 games and four state championships before retiring. And he remembers on the trip back to Virginia reading about Lee High's Kevin Madden, the top high school player in the country. He figured Lee must be a pretty special program.
A year or two later, at Dean Smith's basketball camp at the University of North Carolina, he noticed another camper wearing a Lee High shirt. Edwards describes himself as a loner and admits making friends isn't easy for him, but that other player was gregarious and immediately started talking to him. It turned out to be Jarrett Hatcher. That friendship that started at basketball camp lasted throughout high school and college and continues today.
"He's the only opponent I ever played against that would come talk to me during the layup lines," Edwards said of Hatcher. "I was scared Coach Kramer would yell at me."
The two would end up being sophomore roommates at Bridgewater and lived together a couple of years after graduating from college. Hatcher was the best man at Edwards' wedding. Edwards' kids love their Uncle Hatch. But that relationship makes coaching against one another difficult.
"I feel more exposed with him than I do anybody else," Hatcher said. "Not only in the last few years he's got the talent to be much better than we are, but he's also got the knowledge. I mean it's like he knows everything we're doing."
One of the reasons for that is that Edwards has spent years studying Lee High basketball. Before becoming Spotswood's head coach, he helped Kramer coach the Trailblazers. On nights his team didn't play, Edwards would make the half-hour trip to Staunton to watch Lee High. He wanted to know everything about how Paul Hatcher ran his program.
Over the years, the elder Hatcher has been very gracious in sharing information with Edwards, although not all the information. The one thing he won't tell the Spotswood coach is his three rules of defense.
"My quest in life is try to figure out what those three are," Edwards said. "I think I know two of them, but I can't figure out the third."
Edwards considers himself blessed. He's had the chance to play for and coach with Kramer. And, over the years, because of his friendship with Jarrett, he's been privy to the basketball knowledge of Paul Hatcher.
"Coach Hatcher shaped me," Edwards said, "but so did Jim Kramer. He built this program [at Spotswood] from nothing and turned it into a respected program around the state that was competitive year in and year out."
Edwards has continued to build on that tradition started by Kramer. In eight of the last nine seasons, Spotswood has reached the state tournament and has played for a state title twice, although Edwards is yet to win it all. That bothers him. A lot. And he's found empathy from the elder Hatcher, who had his share of difficult losses at the state tournament.
"The talk that I have had at two in the morning on several occasions is, 'What do we have to do to get over the hump?,' and 'What am I doing wrong?' with both Paul and Jarrett," Edwards said.
Jarrett Hatcher, meanwhile, would like to have the experience of just getting to a state tournament as a coach. He was there plenty when he was an assistant for his dad's teams, but has yet to reach that level in his time as the head coach. He's lost 10 straight games to Edwards and has watched his Leemen battle through ups and downs in recent years, but whenever he needed someone to commiserate with, Edwards was always there.
Edwards struggled in his early years as head coach also. One of his first games against Lee High was in 2005 at the MCI Center in Washington, D.C. Lee beat Spotswood 96-51. So, years later when Jarrett Hatcher was going through tough losses, Edwards understood.
"Some of those seasons that I struggled Chad was calling and talking to me all the time," said Hatcher.
So when the two teams meet Friday night at the Paul Hatcher Gym, it will renew a rivalry that both men almost wish didn't exist.
At the same time, if Lee gets the win, Hatcher will enjoy it because it's been a few years since he's been able to beat Spotswood. This year's edition of the Leemen is the best one Hatcher has had since taking over the coaching job from his dad. A win would, perhaps, signal that this edition of Lee basketball — Hatcher 2.0 — has arrived.
And if Spotswood comes out on top, it may be a bit awkward for Edwards, but he won't be too concerned. He remembers feeling awful the few times his teams beat Paul Hatcher's — the most noteworthy coming in what would turn out to be Hatcher's final game as Lee's coach in 2011. That's not necessarily the case when he beats the younger Hatcher.
"I know when we beat him it causes him hard feelings and when he beats me he knows it causes me hard feelings, but it's just different," Edwards said. "I can't say that I enjoy it or relish in it, but I don't feel as guilty about it as I do with Mr. Hatcher."
No matter what happens Friday night, one coach will be thrilled and the other miserable. And you can bet the winner will be consoling the loser soon after the buzzer sounds. And perhaps much later that night by telephone. Because that's what friends do.
STAUNTON - Chad Edwards has always wanted to be a basketball coach. There have been a few detours on his path, but he never had any real doubt that he would be a coach somewhere, at some level, some day.
In college, Edwards kept a notebook where he would write any information — offensive plays, coaching philosophies, motivational sayings, etc. — that might one day be useful in his coaching career. One of the notes that stood out to him most was about the defense played by Robert E. Lee High School teams.
As a player at Spotswood, Edwards was exhausted after games against Lee High. He described the Lee defense as a meat grinder, and it's exactly how he wanted his future teams to play basketball. Before Edwards' first game at Lee High, his high school coach, Jim Kramer, put an arm around him and explained to the freshman that he was about to be baptized in the ways of basketball.
But while Edwards was struggling with Lee's defense, Lee was trying to find ways to stop Edwards.
"He was a tough player," said Jarrett Hatcher, who played against Edwards in high school and is now the Leemen's head boys basketball coach. "He was one of the only guys we really changed anything for schematically because he was good enough to bring the ball up the floor and he was hard to guard inside. So that senior year Joe Joe Stuart guarded him coming up the floor and then passed him off to Reggie (Waddy). Other than Ralph (Sampson) it's really the only guy we've ever done something special for."
Edwards just laughs at that comparison, but he appreciates the sentiment even if he doesn't believe it.
That experience in high school started a connection between Edwards and Hatcher that continues to strengthen and endure even now when both run their own programs, Edwards at Spotswood and Hatcher at Lee.
The latest chapter in that relationship will be Friday night in Staunton when their teams play. When the two friends square off against one another it's usually the most difficult game for both men to coach.
"The hardest part is and the best part is the handshake afterwards," Hatcher said. "When I've been fortunate enough to beat Chad, I know how hard he works and what it means and you feel bad because that's one of your best friends. And then when you get beat you're really pissed because it's one of your best friends and how can he be doing that to you."
Edwards was born in the Harrisonburg area, but his family soon moved to Texas. Interestingly enough, that's where he first became aware of Lee High basketball. Relatives would send him newspaper clippings about Sampson's exploits at Harrisonburg High School, and Edwards kept noticing that one of the few teams to give Sampson fits was Lee High.
When Edwards' family moved back to Virginia, he discovered that his dad had played college basketball with then Lee coach Paul Hatcher, who would win 897 games and four state championships before retiring. And he remembers on the trip back to Virginia reading about Lee High's Kevin Madden, the top high school player in the country. He figured Lee must be a pretty special program.
A year or two later, at Dean Smith's basketball camp at the University of North Carolina, he noticed another camper wearing a Lee High shirt. Edwards describes himself as a loner and admits making friends isn't easy for him, but that other player was gregarious and immediately started talking to him. It turned out to be Jarrett Hatcher. That friendship that started at basketball camp lasted throughout high school and college and continues today.
"He's the only opponent I ever played against that would come talk to me during the layup lines," Edwards said of Hatcher. "I was scared Coach Kramer would yell at me."
The two would end up being sophomore roommates at Bridgewater and lived together a couple of years after graduating from college. Hatcher was the best man at Edwards' wedding. Edwards' kids love their Uncle Hatch. But that relationship makes coaching against one another difficult.
"I feel more exposed with him than I do anybody else," Hatcher said. "Not only in the last few years he's got the talent to be much better than we are, but he's also got the knowledge. I mean it's like he knows everything we're doing."
One of the reasons for that is that Edwards has spent years studying Lee High basketball. Before becoming Spotswood's head coach, he helped Kramer coach the Trailblazers. On nights his team didn't play, Edwards would make the half-hour trip to Staunton to watch Lee High. He wanted to know everything about how Paul Hatcher ran his program.
Over the years, the elder Hatcher has been very gracious in sharing information with Edwards, although not all the information. The one thing he won't tell the Spotswood coach is his three rules of defense.
"My quest in life is try to figure out what those three are," Edwards said. "I think I know two of them, but I can't figure out the third."
Edwards considers himself blessed. He's had the chance to play for and coach with Kramer. And, over the years, because of his friendship with Jarrett, he's been privy to the basketball knowledge of Paul Hatcher.
"Coach Hatcher shaped me," Edwards said, "but so did Jim Kramer. He built this program [at Spotswood] from nothing and turned it into a respected program around the state that was competitive year in and year out."
Edwards has continued to build on that tradition started by Kramer. In eight of the last nine seasons, Spotswood has reached the state tournament and has played for a state title twice, although Edwards is yet to win it all. That bothers him. A lot. And he's found empathy from the elder Hatcher, who had his share of difficult losses at the state tournament.
"The talk that I have had at two in the morning on several occasions is, 'What do we have to do to get over the hump?,' and 'What am I doing wrong?' with both Paul and Jarrett," Edwards said.
Jarrett Hatcher, meanwhile, would like to have the experience of just getting to a state tournament as a coach. He was there plenty when he was an assistant for his dad's teams, but has yet to reach that level in his time as the head coach. He's lost 10 straight games to Edwards and has watched his Leemen battle through ups and downs in recent years, but whenever he needed someone to commiserate with, Edwards was always there.
Edwards struggled in his early years as head coach also. One of his first games against Lee High was in 2005 at the MCI Center in Washington, D.C. Lee beat Spotswood 96-51. So, years later when Jarrett Hatcher was going through tough losses, Edwards understood.
"Some of those seasons that I struggled Chad was calling and talking to me all the time," said Hatcher.
So when the two teams meet Friday night at the Paul Hatcher Gym, it will renew a rivalry that both men almost wish didn't exist.
At the same time, if Lee gets the win, Hatcher will enjoy it because it's been a few years since he's been able to beat Spotswood. This year's edition of the Leemen is the best one Hatcher has had since taking over the coaching job from his dad. A win would, perhaps, signal that this edition of Lee basketball — Hatcher 2.0 — has arrived.
And if Spotswood comes out on top, it may be a bit awkward for Edwards, but he won't be too concerned. He remembers feeling awful the few times his teams beat Paul Hatcher's — the most noteworthy coming in what would turn out to be Hatcher's final game as Lee's coach in 2011. That's not necessarily the case when he beats the younger Hatcher.
"I know when we beat him it causes him hard feelings and when he beats me he knows it causes me hard feelings, but it's just different," Edwards said. "I can't say that I enjoy it or relish in it, but I don't feel as guilty about it as I do with Mr. Hatcher."
No matter what happens Friday night, one coach will be thrilled and the other miserable. And you can bet the winner will be consoling the loser soon after the buzzer sounds. And perhaps much later that night by telephone. Because that's what friends do.
