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Show Weber State College Comment, discusses play with members of the ss ‘ tee 4 aimllad cantliten First year head coach, Denny Huston, college's Wildcats. by Brad M. Larsen WSC Sports Information Director enny Huston’s 25 year love affair with coaching started when he was 15 years old. Weber State’s new head basketball coach began his life of directing court action when he was point guard on the Camas, Wash. junior high basketball nar ents — needa aaa, —— aN team. “Gaylen Dacus, my junior high school coach really had a positive influence on my life and taught me the value of hard work and what it took to be a coach,” Huston said. “He was the person who planted the seed in my mind to become a basketball coach.” From the eighth grade on he became a student of the game both on and off the court and spent a great deal of time coaching “Pee Wee” basketball teams in Camas, he said. Despite earning accolades as a player in high school, Huston didn’t get many offers to continue playing at the collegiate level. But a coach at nearby Clark Community College, Skeet O’Connell, saw talent, offered Huston a scholarship, and the new recruit played college ball for two seasons. “Coach O’Connell was a ‘coach’s coach.’ He coached like he was teaching other people how to become coaches,” Huston said. Huston played well enough at Clark College to earn a scholarship at Willametta College in Salem, Ore., but he turned it down to attend Western Washington University in Bellingham, Wash. “At Western, I played for acoach named Chuck Randall who was a real basketball junkie. He lived and breathed the game,” Huston said. Randall was the coach who brought the idea_of summer basketball camps to the western United states, and he is also the pioneer and inventor of the break-away basketball rims now being used all over the country, he said. : “It took him a while to iron out the wrinkles, but he’s the one who got the whole idea started,” Huston noted. After graduating from Western Washington Huston landed his first job as an assistant coach back at his junior college alma mater, Clark College. He served as an assistant under Frank Arnold, who later served as the head coach at BrighamYoung University. “Frank taught me how to be a salesperson and a marketer, two important qualities you need when you are recruiting players,” Huston said. “I would go visit prospective players’ homes with coach Armold and after we would leave I would ask him, ‘Are you talking about the same school you and I work at?’ He really had ways of describing things, places and events.” Huston and former Montana coach Jud Heathcoate were assistant coaches together under Marv Harshman at Washington State. Heathcoate’s skill in discipline, intensity and hard work made a lasting impression on Huston’s young coaching mind, he said, as members of this year’s Wildcat team can verify. Huston gleaned from Heathcoate’s knowledge about defenses and defensive schemes, and the new WSC coach admits ‘stealing’ a lot of Heathcoate’s ideas. But probably the biggest influence on Huston was Marv Harshman himself. Huston spent two years with Harshman at Washington State, and then followed him to the University of Washington where he was an assistant for 10 seasons. During that time he listened and learned and put the information away for future use. “Coach Harshman had tremendous people skills. He could relate to anyone at anytime, anywhere. More than anything, though, was his talent at on-the- bench coaching, making adjustments during the course of a game,” Huston said. “His offensive mind and ideas were light years ahead of everyone | saw him on a couple of occasions walk into a high school gym, watch practice for three or four minutes, then walk down on the floor and give advice, and the next thing you knew the players’ productivity in practice jumped tenfold. He has that kind of a mind and presence for the game. I’ve tried very hard to incorporate those same talents into my coaching philosophy and methods,” he added. Huston worked with two other former Montana coaches as well. He spent four seasons with Jim Brandenburg at Wyoming and two seasons with Mike Montgomery at Stanford before coming to Weber State. “Jim and Mike were similar in that they have a great ability to get the most out of players and make them play up to their potential. “They used intimidation as a tool to get players to step up a notch, and, in most cases, it’s what you need to do. I would say inmost cases coaches who use positive reinforcement never get their players to the same level of performance as an intimidator does, so I’ve tried to work that type of motivational behavior into my philosophy,” Huston said. A coach does have to know his players, however, and adjust accordingly, he said. “Some players will take the challenge, while others may just walk right out of the arena. You have to learn when to use it and when not to,” he said. Huston took a great deal of time preparing to be head coach, 46 years to be exact. That doesn’t bother him, he said. In fact, he’s grateful for having had opportunities to learn from some great coaches. “] think if you get a head coaching job too early in your career you really don’t have much to draw on in terms of being in different situations,” he said. “Tt’s been a blessing for me to have had all the experiences I’ve had, even though I had to wait this long to secure a head coaching position.” Huston said he feels comfortable in his Weber State surroundings, and is excited about the potential and possibilities and getting Wildcat basketball back in the spotlight. And what’s in Coach Huston’s plans for an “After Weber State” experience? ‘Why would I want to go anywhere else? There is nothing out there that 1 can’t do from here. We have one of the nicest facilities in the country in the Dee Center. The fans in Ogden are very knowledgeable and enthusiastic, and the people I work with are great.” So, Denny Huston is here to stay, and he has brought with him a quarter of a century’s worth of basketball knowledge and coaching skills. This year’s 16-10 regular season record is the first positive effort in a number of years for the Wildcats, and the prospects for next year are exciting. Athletic photographs by John Shupe = April 1989, Page * Rico Washington (25) scores in Big Sky action against Montana State in the Dee Events Center. Weber State's head basketball coach, Denny Huston, encourages his team. |