SURE, Bob Dawson left with a few regrets last week when he walked away from South Charleston High School. You don't spend 29 years of your life at one place - 24 as the head boys basketball coach - without wishing to change a few things.
SURE, Bob Dawson left with a few regrets last week when he walked away from South Charleston High School. You don't spend 29 years of your life at one place - 24 as the head boys basketball coach - without wishing to change a few things.
Of course, Dawson took SC to the Class AAA state tournament 11 times, and to the championship game four times, without pulling out a victory. Thus, SC's hoops drought now extends back to 1959. Even fellow Kanawha County schools George Washington and Capital have won titles since then.
But by and large, Dawson is satisfied in what he accomplished with the Black Eagles program, one that he leaves in very good hands to his successor - a 90-12 record over the last four seasons and two Mountain State Athletic Conference championships, with several top players returning this winter.
Perhaps his biggest regret, though, is the fact that he really didn't leave on his own terms. Last year's heart attack and subsequent health problems robbed the 55-year-old Dawson of his independence, of the opportunity to lead the sort of life he wanted. One that revolved around teaching and coaching basketball.
"If it weren't for my back, I'd have no problems,'' Dawson said last week. "I'd be fired up and ready to go. Just standing around a basketball court for two hours, it gets stiff and I have to ice it. I didn't know if I could do it every day.
"My dad was a coach and a teacher. He's in the UC/Morris Harvey Hall of Fame. My mom was a teacher, and she stayed behind me like crazy until she passed. It's been a big part of my life, and it's tough to get away from.''
Dawson believes the back pain, including three bulging disks, is a side effect of medications he began taking after suffering a heart attack last Nov. 18. Even though he recovered and felt his heart was strong enough, he wound up missing his team's first three games and six in all because of health-related problems, including a case of shingles.
"I was walking [for exercise],'' Dawson said, "but I quit doing it because it [affected] both my legs a little bit. I wanted to start working out with weights, but I haven't been able to do those type things. Mentally, it plays on you a little bit, but my heart and stuff are fine.
"Golly Neds, people I know have always told me about their back and knee problems and that you can hardly do anything - you can hardly coach, you can hardly work. Now I know what they're talking about. I never had back pain before. It's set me back. I retired [from a teaching position] and bought a farm and thought I could work on the farm and coach and really enjoy myself, ride the tractor. But I ain't been able to do that. It's been kind of boring.''
South Charleston basketball was anything but boring in 24 years under Dawson.
He led the program to a 395-165 record and several times was ranked No. 1 in the state. The Black Eagles strung together 25 wins in a row last season and 22 in a row the year before, only to see those streaks snapped in the state finals. After losing in the title game to Huntington's high-flying act with O.J. Mayo and Patrick Patterson in 2007, SC fell to Woodrow Wilson in 2008 and Martinsburg last season.
Dawson's teams were marked by their frenetic pace - pressure defense and fast breaks - and crowd-pleasing, often above-the-rim play.
They were often invited to participate in events like the Coal Classic in Beckley and the West Virginia-Kentucky Shootout, among others.
"We played a lot of out-of-state teams,'' Dawson said. "I liked doing that. Some of my high points would have been beating Louisville Ballard in Charleston when they were ranked No. 2 in the state of Kentucky, and playing Oak Hill Academy when they had Carmelo Anthony.''
SC gave a good accounting of itself at the Coal Classic in 2002 when it fell 82-61 to Oak Hill, at the time the nation's top-ranked prep team, and one with seven Division I recruits. Anthony, now one of the NBA's top stars, had 23 points and four dunks in that game.
SURE, Bob Dawson left with a few regrets last week when he walked away from South Charleston High School. You don't spend 29 years of your life at one place - 24 as the head boys basketball coach - without wishing to change a few things.
Of course, Dawson took SC to the Class AAA state tournament 11 times, and to the championship game four times, without pulling out a victory. Thus, SC's hoops drought now extends back to 1959. Even fellow Kanawha County schools George Washington and Capital have won titles since then.
But by and large, Dawson is satisfied in what he accomplished with the Black Eagles program, one that he leaves in very good hands to his successor - a 90-12 record over the last four seasons and two Mountain State Athletic Conference championships, with several top players returning this winter.
Perhaps his biggest regret, though, is the fact that he really didn't leave on his own terms. Last year's heart attack and subsequent health problems robbed the 55-year-old Dawson of his independence, of the opportunity to lead the sort of life he wanted. One that revolved around teaching and coaching basketball.
"If it weren't for my back, I'd have no problems,'' Dawson said last week. "I'd be fired up and ready to go. Just standing around a basketball court for two hours, it gets stiff and I have to ice it. I didn't know if I could do it every day.
"My dad was a coach and a teacher. He's in the UC/Morris Harvey Hall of Fame. My mom was a teacher, and she stayed behind me like crazy until she passed. It's been a big part of my life, and it's tough to get away from.''
Dawson believes the back pain, including three bulging disks, is a side effect of medications he began taking after suffering a heart attack last Nov. 18. Even though he recovered and felt his heart was strong enough, he wound up missing his team's first three games and six in all because of health-related problems, including a case of shingles.
"I was walking [for exercise],'' Dawson said, "but I quit doing it because it [affected] both my legs a little bit. I wanted to start working out with weights, but I haven't been able to do those type things. Mentally, it plays on you a little bit, but my heart and stuff are fine.
"Golly Neds, people I know have always told me about their back and knee problems and that you can hardly do anything - you can hardly coach, you can hardly work. Now I know what they're talking about. I never had back pain before. It's set me back. I retired [from a teaching position] and bought a farm and thought I could work on the farm and coach and really enjoy myself, ride the tractor. But I ain't been able to do that. It's been kind of boring.''
South Charleston basketball was anything but boring in 24 years under Dawson.
He led the program to a 395-165 record and several times was ranked No. 1 in the state. The Black Eagles strung together 25 wins in a row last season and 22 in a row the year before, only to see those streaks snapped in the state finals. After losing in the title game to Huntington's high-flying act with O.J. Mayo and Patrick Patterson in 2007, SC fell to Woodrow Wilson in 2008 and Martinsburg last season.
Dawson's teams were marked by their frenetic pace - pressure defense and fast breaks - and crowd-pleasing, often above-the-rim play.
They were often invited to participate in events like the Coal Classic in Beckley and the West Virginia-Kentucky Shootout, among others.
"We played a lot of out-of-state teams,'' Dawson said. "I liked doing that. Some of my high points would have been beating Louisville Ballard in Charleston when they were ranked No. 2 in the state of Kentucky, and playing Oak Hill Academy when they had Carmelo Anthony.''
SC gave a good accounting of itself at the Coal Classic in 2002 when it fell 82-61 to Oak Hill, at the time the nation's top-ranked prep team, and one with seven Division I recruits. Anthony, now one of the NBA's top stars, had 23 points and four dunks in that game.
"I'd have had more than 395 victories if I hadn't toughened up my schedule,'' Dawson said. "I just don't care who we play. We'll play anybody. My kids want to play good people. They were appreciative of that, and we tried to move our program up a notch and give our kids a chance to play against other people and give them the chance to be seen a little bit.''
Among the things Dawson will miss the most are the camaraderie with his coaches, players and parents.
"I worked there 29 years,'' he said. "That's more than half my life with the South Charleston and Dunbar communities and kids. I had a great time with great kids and great parents, and the last six years were pretty darned good. I haven't had too many problems [with players] lately. In my career here, I didn't have many. Kids who had problems knew not to come out.
"Maybe I made a rash decision, I don't know. I was looking to having [ex-point guard] Ronnie Means coming on board [as assistant coach]. I like being around my ex-players, seeing what they're doing and how successful they were in life. I was close to [Aaron] Dobson and [Aaron] Slusher, too.''
Not being able to tell his players first-hand about his decision to step down was one of Dawson's biggest regrets.
He went to the high school to speak with Principal Mike Arbogast two weeks ago on a Friday, three days before the start of preseason drills, when he was first thinking of resigning, or perhaps taking a leave of absence for a month or a year to get some help for his back. Dawson has also been helping out with the ninth-grade boys team, which had reported to practice before the varsity.
Dawson took the weekend to decide, and when he came back to the school the next Monday he was disappointed with what he found. He felt the administration didn't exactly try to talk him out of his decision to resign, and word had spread among the younger players that he was stepping down.
"After 29 years, I thought I deserved better than that,'' he said. "But a lot of people in the world today are like that. If you don't want to do it, we'll find somebody.
"But all the kids knew, and I was really disappointed about that. I didn't like walking in when it seemed like everyone knew. Some of the kids didn't take it real well. They thought I was a quitter. But I scheduled a talk with [the varsity] to tell them my side, and let them have their say-so. I put in too much time to go out like that. I think they deserve better than that. I'm pretty good friends with them as far as player-coach relations - especially Tyler [Harris] and Pierria' [Henry]. I wanted to straighten it out.''
After all he's been through, the highs and the lows, you can't blame Dawson for turning around and taking a long look back at his career with some satisfaction, even if he wasn't able to win the big one.
"That does bug me,'' he said. "I knew I had some bad luck. I knew I had some kids hurt. We couldn't win a state championship. I don't know why. That's part of it. That's the way it goes.
"I always thought two things - I thought we played hard and worked hard, and I thought I had good people. And that I'll never forget.''
Reach Rick Ryan at 304-348-5175 or rickr...@wvgazette.com.
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