June 14, 2012
• yANCEY cOUNTY nEWS 3
Fans, team welcome new boy’s basketball coach From the front from West Virginia University. “His resume is pretty good. I think we went out and we got the coach our kids deserve. I think he’s got great vision,” Robinson said. But most important, Robinson, the Cougars football coach, said, is that Newson has drive, integrity and a solid core. “He’s got big shoes to fill, but I have no doubt that this is the person we were looking for. Why? Because he brings energy. He wants to start with the little kids and he wants to go all the way through the entire program, and he wants to encompass the entire program. One thing I like about him most is, he wants to embrace our community, and that is what we were looking for. He wants to be a Cougar; he wants his kids to be a Cougar, and that’s important to us.” Newson was met with loud applause, but he didn’t falter before the fans. “We are very honored and blessed to be a part of Mountain Heritage and I feel real fortunate to come to a program with the rich tradition that the Cougars have had over the years, and I know I fill big shoes. I look forward to that challenge. My wife and I want to come to a place where we can raise our family; a place that will embrace us. We’re truly blessed and honored and looking forward to working with these young men and winning some basketball games and teaching them what life is about.” Accompanying Newson were his wife, Lauren, and his parents, Randy and Karen Newson. MHHS Assistant Principal Stuart Jolley said there was no secret formula used to choose a new coach for a highly successful small program. “What do you look for? First and foremost, you look for credibility. You want a candidate that has the opportunity to come in, be a good fit for this community, to come in and build on the success. This gentleman has great credibility. Every person we spoke to said he is trustworthy, he is a go-getter, he is a great community person, he is a great family person, and he is a great human being.” A key, Jolley said, is to find a candidate who realized they must work with what comes naturally in a county. “There is not a magic formula, and you’re going to have ups and downs. You look at any program – particularly the high school level where you don’t recruit - you get young people to come in with varying abilities. You can’t just go out and get a point guard. You can’t go out and get a power forward; you can’t go out and get a center. You have to look for an individual that comes from
Jonathan Austin/Yancey County News
Hank Newson, the new boy’s varsity basketball coach at Mountain Heritage, stands with Cougar Athletic Director Joey Robinson. Newson was the boys’ varsity coach at West Caldwell last year, where his team was 19-7. He was also the Catawba Valley Athletic Conference Coach of the Year.
a program … in which there has been stability.” And they think they’ve made a good selection in choosing Newson. “We hope to continue the winning tradition that we’ve come to be so used to.” Newson, who has worked as a history teacher for several years, will fill a physical education slot at Mountain Heritage, and Jolley said the interview panel caught some candidates off guard with a question that had nothing to do with coaching basketball. “One of our questions that we asked in the interview process was, tell us what your classroom, as a physical education teacher – what a day in your classroom is going to look like. They did not expect that, in some cases. He was very good at articulating how … to reach out to those students that choose oftentimes to be less active, for various reasons. We felt that, him speaking to being inclusive – not only would we have a good fit for the basketball season, but more important, we have a good longterm fit to benefit our young people
in the classroom,” Jolley said. “You cannot have a student athlete - you cannot have a fit student - without someone who knows how to include that kid and get them involved. Hank was very articulate about being involved in these students’ lives, above and beyond just his basketball players. He has an awareness of the co-curricular aspect, and that was one of the big selling points. Yes, he has a great pedigree when it comes to coaching, but more importantly, he is coming from a family of educators. Speaking privately after the ceremony, Newson agreed. “The whole point of a physical education teacher is to help young kids like physical activity. You want to help kids to be active lifelong, and create good habits at a young age. Whatever it is, enjoy doing it and it has benefits. I’m really looking forward to teaching PE; I’m certified in history and I’ve been teaching history for eight years. (But) you have a different bond with them in the gym than you have in the classroom. You
want it to be enjoyable; you want them to get something out of it.” And as for basketball? What does he expect come time for winter sports? “I hope to bring an aggressive style of basketball here. The last two places I’ve coached, that’s what we prided ourselves on, and I’ve had great success. It’s defense oriented; we’re going to be aggressive in half-court and fullcourt defense. As any coach does, you like to run and get layups, but we’re going to have some definite set offenses that we like to run. With the size of the kids here, obviously your size is going to be a factor on the type offense you run. You’ve got to run some things that make them successful. When people come see us, they’re going to see an aggressive, hard-working group of young men on the floor who are really getting after it for four quarters. That’s how I play; that’s how I coach. That’s really the only style that I know. Everything’s going to be controlled. With the kind of kids we have here at Mountain Heritage, I think we will be successful with that style.”