The bench boss

knows how to coach and motivate but that someone is committed to leading and teaching long term.

The Sarasota High boys basketball program was in disarray when when asked about his accomplishment.

No matter what it is, 300 of anything tends a lot. You would not want 300 oranges in your refrigerator or a sock with 300 holes. Cincinnati Bengals fans might want to drink 300 beers after the way their team lost to the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday, but I would advise against it. Three protestors on a street corner is not a news story — 300 is. And just ask the Persians how much damage 300 Spartan warriors can do.

What about basketball victories?

At the high school level, where teams play 25-30 games a year, 300 wins mean not only that someone

B.J. Ivey arrived on the bench before the 2022-23 season. The Sailors went 5-20 in 2022 and have not finished with a winning record since

2014.

That will change this year. With one game remaining — with a good road test against Cardinal Mooney High (15-9) at 7 p.m. Thursday — the Sailors are 20-4. Even if the Sailors drop their final game, they will have inverted their record from this past season. And on Jan. 24,

Ivey hit a personal milestone: that magical 300th win, a road victory over a solid Braden River team (148) that beat the Sailors 56-48 earlier in the season.

Ivey was, as usual, deferential

“I don’t think it’s necessarily about what this means to me,” Ivey said. “It’s more about the great memories that I’ve made with kids throughout past years. You just start reminiscing.”

That’s the thing about sports milestones: They are in some ways arbitrary. Reaching 300 wins is not all that different from 299. But we set up these milestones not only as marks of greatness but as road signs reminding us to look back at how we got there.

In Ivey’s case, the road started at Riverview High with the girls basketball program. He coached the girls for three years before moving to the boys program and helping the Rams flourish. Over the next decade, he and the Rams won eight district titles and reached the 2015-

16 state championship game. In the process, Ivey helped players such as Brion Whitley (Southern University) and A.J. Caldwell (University of Tennessee-Chattanooga) reach NCAA Division I teams.

In 2019, Ivey took a leave from the high school ranks to work as the director of operations at Florida Gulf Coast University but returned to The Out-of-Door Academy in 2020, and in 2022 took the Sailors job, getting back to his public school roots.

The Sailors record makes the program’s changes apparent. Even if it wasn’t as impressive, the players’ attitudes make Ivey’s ripple effect known. After a Nov. 29 win over ODA, Sailors junior Daniel Munn said Ivey’s arrival altered how the Sailors approach the game of basketball.

“He has completely changed our culture,” Munn said. “We’re more disciplined. We’re more hardworking. And we hate losing.”

In December, sophomore guard Oliver Boyle offered similar thoughts. Last year’s team was about “me, me, me,” Boyle said. This year has been about the “we.” When you play for each other — when you care about each other — you play better, Boyle said. You don’t want to let teammates down.

Playing for the team over self is a hallmark of Ivey’s coaching. It is how those scrappy Riverview teams overcame size and talent disadvantages to become one of the hardest postseason outs in the state.

After Ivey’s milestone win, the Sailors showered him with congratulations — literally.

At the Sailors home game against Booker High on Jan. 26, the first home game after Ivey’s milestone, the school presented him with a commemorative basketball and T-shirt, both emblazoned with a “300 wins” logo. After the game, a group of Ivey’s former players, including some of his Riverview girls players, walked down to the court to say congratulations.

For someone like Ivey, that is what coaching is all about.

“It means a lot, for them to take time out of their day and come and share that moment with me,” Ivey said.

Ivey knows more about successful basketball coaching than most, but there’s one piece of advice that stands above the rest in his mind. It comes not from the court, but from the church. Before Ivey married his wife, Samantha Ivey, he met with a priest, who reminded him that love is a choice. The priest, of course, meant that if Ivey wanted to love and commit to Samantha forever, then he should marry her. But Ivey has carried that to his coaching career as well.

“You get an opportunity to coach a group of kids, and you get an opportunity to model choosing to love them,” Ivey said. “Good times and bad. When it is easy and when it is hard. And there’s different kinds of love. Sometimes you put your arm around them and speak greatness into them, encourage them. Other times you have to give a little tough love.”

Ivey said he has too many favorite moments in his career to share, but as examples, he pointed out the state championship game appearance in 2015-16 and the Riverview girls going on the road and beating a Lake Mary High team ranked 25th in the country, then having a joyous bus ride home. The two moments have something in common: a team digging deep to do something most people thought it could not.

That’s another hallmark of Ivey’s teams, and it’s a quality this year’s Sailors team shares. Even on Jan. 26 against Booker, the Sailors showed resilience, trailing into the fourth quarter before winning 45-40. They have a lot left in their tank — and so does their coach. As the Sailors continue to develop under Ivey’s tutelage, 400 will be here soon enough.

SARASOTA INSTITUTE OF LIFETIME LEARNING

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Music Mondays

Monday, February 6 Sarasota,10:30 am - Venice, 3:00 pm

Leymis Bolaños Wilmott, Choreographer

With rhythm in her bones, Cuban American Leymis Bolaños Wilmott found her voice through dance. As Founder/Artistic Director of Sarasota Contemporary Dance she uses those bones to create stunning and imaginative art.

Tuesday, February 7 Sarasota,10:30 am - Venice, 2:30 pm

Post Brexit: What Now?

A er Brexit, the UK economy has worsened. Baroness Margaret Jay will elaborate on some of the current problems and potential solutions.

Wednesday, February 8 Sarasota,10:30 am

The Refugees in SW Florida - The Human Story Yasmin Sayed presents an overview of refugee resettlement at Lutheran Services Florida, its e orts in Florida, and the human stories of the challenges and successes.

Thursday, February 9 Sarasota,10:30 am - Lakewood Ranch, 5:00 Friday, February 10 Venice,10:00 am

Civil War by Other Means

Dr. Jeremi Suri will discuss the two decades a er the Confederate surrender at Appomattox, when some Americans tried to build a multiracial nation, and others refused. It shows how those years are still relevant.