That in a nutshell could describe Harry Kirk and his coaching style.
In his long career as the head coach of the tradition-rich Harts High School basketball team, Kirk was a motivator of young men.
He was an innovator of the game.
He was a man who commanded respect.
He was a man who knew how to use all of his players to the fullest and in each and every situation.
He was a man who knew how to exploit an opponent’s weakness.
He was a man who knew how to beat you.
He was a student of the game.
He was a man who has had success at every level of the game from player to coach.
Pardon the French, but Kirk was just a damned good high school basketball coach.
Kirk has already accomplished so much in his basketball coaching career, from winning 458 games (the most in the history of Harts High School), taking Harts to many regional and state tournaments and winning numerous holiday tournaments and sectional tourney titles.
And now, he could be back into coaching.
He could be the next head coach of the Chapmanville Regional High School Tigers.
Strike that.
He should be the next head coach of the Chapmanville Regional High School Tigers.
Unless you have been on a sabbatical to Zambia or to the Cook Islands you know of the recent rumblings and internet fodder which has surrounded the Chapmanville basketball program over the last several months.
As you know, seven-year coach Dave Elkins stepped down as the head coach of the Tigers recently and Kirk’s name has been mentioned by most as the man to replace him.
Other names have been mentioned, such as Jody Harless, one of Coach Elkins’ assistant coaches; and also Logan High School assistant coach Brad Napier, a Harts native, but I’m told Kirk is the front-runner to get the job.
He’s not just the front-runner, it’s “a done deal,” from what I’ve been hearing.
Whether that’s true or not, I do not know, but I can tell you this.
Kirk is not only the right man for the job, he’s the only man for the job.
I’m not trying to dog Harless or Napier in any way. Both are good coaches and will make good head coaches some day.
But for now at CRHS, it is Kirk who has the drive, determination and coaching expertise to bring the Chapmanville basketball program back from the basement and to bring the Harts area hoop fans back into the fold.
At the closure of Harts High School in 2006, Harts basketball fans felt like a dagger had been stuck into their hearts, no pun intended.
Down at Harts Creek, basketball has always very important.
Some would go as far as saying that it has been a way of life.
Harts High School existed from the mid-1950s, with its first graduation class in 1958, until 2006, when it was shut down by the West Virginia State Board of Education.
During its half-century of existence, Harts High School won more than 700 basketball games, including 29 sectional tournaments, 13 regional tournaments and three Class A state championships — two led by Kirk and the other led by Kyle Garretson, who coached the Lions to 199 wins.
Coach Kirk took seven teams to the state tournament and Coach Garretson took five teams to state.
Coach Kirk, considered a legend in his own time, was recognized by the West Virginia Legislature this year for his years of coaching work and winning ways at Harts High School.
According to Wikipedia, the theme song for what has become known far and wide as Harts Creek basketball is “Harts Didn’t Come Here to Lose!”, words and music by Ronnie Z. McCann. McCann, a singer-songwriter who graduated from Harts High School in 1968, helped coach the basketball team for a couple of years and has written about 400 songs over the years.
Lion fans jammed into small-ish gym at Harts every night the team played.
The last year of Harts High School, I was able to take in a few home games and I was impressed.
The energy of the fans and the players, the enthusiasm and the sheer atmosphere was unlike anything I have seen around these parts, save for Logan High School boys’ basketball games at Willie Akers Arena.
It was hot, too.
Man, it had to be at least 90 degrees in the Harts gym. During a game between Chapmanville and Harts one night I thought I was going to pass out from the heat.
But Coach Kirk’s exciting, fast-tempo, up-and-down, pressing and trapping game of the Lions kept me into it.
However, since the closure of Harts High School with no place close to call home, Harts students had to make the choice of attending the new Chapmanville Regional High School in a quasi-consolidation with the old CHS, or to the new Lincoln County High School at Hamlin.
Most Harts students chose Chapmanville since it is much closer.
The merging of the Chapmanville and Harts brethren never seemed to fit under Elkins the last three seasons unlike other sports such as football and softball, most notably, at CRHS.
This year, the Chapmanville Tigers suffered through a long, miserable 4-19 basketball season during the 2008-09 campaign.
It was woeful, to put it mildly.
There was nobody in the stands. There was no crowd support, no student body support and no enthusiasm whatsoever.
With only a couple hundred fans (or less) in the bleachers it had hit rock-bottom.
Elkins announced he was stepping down and it was the best decision he could have made for the program.
There had to be some new blood.
Don’t get me wrong. I’ve always liked Elkins and have always gotten along well with him but something had to be done and done fast.
The Tiger basketball program was in collapse-mode.
Enter Kirk.
If Kirk gets the job it will probably be his biggest challenge of his coaching career.
Things will have to be built from the ground up and every aspect of the Chapmanville basketball program must improve.
Kirk is not a young man, but I believe he’s the man that will turn things around in Tiger Town. He could make a difference in just one season if all of the chips fall into place and the scattered jigsaw puzzle pieces come together.
The vast majority in the Chapmanville basketball hierarchy, the school and the community as a whole seem to be behind Kirk and hope he gets the job. That’s certainly the case down the road at Harts Creek.
It seems like the question, “So when is Harry going to be the new coach at Chapmanville Regional?” has been asked for more than three years straight.
Coach Kirk and Harts High School were once a great rival to the Tigers, but those days are long gone.
Even loyal Chapmanville stalwarts will acknowledge that.
There is no longer a Harts High School and a Chapmanville High School.
There is only a Chapmanville Regional High School and Kirk is the man that will fully unite any of the last vestiges of old factions that still exist between the two towns, at least in basketball terms.
Let’s be clear about this, people.
Kirk should get the job if he applies.
There is a huge opportunity that is there for the taking.
Something exciting, very exciting, could be brewing long about November when the first official practices begin for the upcoming 2009-10 roundball season.
If everything falls into place, the Tigers could be a very good basketball team in time.
A lot of good players are already coming back, including 6-4 center Todd Terry, Brooks Cooper, Cliff Hall, Ethan Brumfield, Zack Maynard and Dustin Woody, and some new and exciting faces could emerge.
Under Kirk’s system, who knows what could happen to the Orange and the Black?
Chapmanville has been close several times but the school has never reached a boys’ state tournament. The possibility is always there, however, with any Harry Kirk-led team.
Some of the websters say Kirk may only stay two or three years, if hired.
If he only stays two or three years and hands it off to a younger man, Chapmanville will still be much better off.
If Chapmanville does not hire Kirk, then basketball at Chapmanville will continue to be something that is done in the winter months to kill the time between football and the baseball/softball seasons.
— Paul Adkins is the Sports Editor of the Logan Banner
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