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BENNETT'S MINUTES: Desire to be closer to home important factor for departing Tiger Cub boss
Bradley Key did not have a burning desire to leave Greencastle, after nine straight winning seasons as the school’s girls’ basketball coach — a span that is tied for the eighth-longest in the state.
However, the 32-year-old Alexandria native has felt isolated from his family members, many of whom are located two hours away in the Anderson area.
When the Greenfield-Central position came open this spring, Key decided to pursue the opportunity at the Class 4A school located within 20 minutes of several family members.
Greenfield-Central was impressed with Key and his record, and hired him on Friday as its third girls’ basketball coach in the last three years.
“I wouldn’t leave Greencastle unless I got a great opportunity,” Key said Monday. “Greenfield is much closer to my family. I’ll be 20 minutes away from my brother, and many of the games we’ll play will be 20 minutes away from the Key side of my family. They haven’t been able to drive the two hours from Alexandria to Greencastle, and now they will be able to come to my games much more often.”
Key came to Greencastle straight out of college 10 years ago to teach, and was hired as the girls’ coach in his second year.
During that time, his teams won seven Putnam County championships — including the last five — and one sectional title. He compiled a 128-76 record with the Tiger Cubs.
“In my mind we’ve had some success here,” he said. “I’m just looking for that new challenge, and I felt like Greenfield-Central is a great opportunity to see if I take my coaching and make it work at a different school against bigger schools and even better competition. I just thought it was the right time to step up to a new challenge.”
Departing Greencastle would have been tough for Key at any point in his tenure, but his last Tiger Cub team holds a special place in his heart and was especially difficult.
After losing its top three scorers from the previous season, Key directed the Cubs to a 16-9 record and runnerup finishes in the Western Indiana Conference and Crawfordsville sectional.
“This year was definitely special,” he said. “We were behind the 8-ball to start the season, and weren’t really sure what we had. They just jelled together, and we went on that big nine-game winning streak [including a win over top 10-ranked Danville].
“This was a really fun year, but in terms of the nine years they have all had special things about them.”
Besides the sectional title, which ironically came in one of the two years in which Key’s team did not win the county title, he points to one other special time.
“Two years ago, when Bethany Burgeson his a 3-pointer at the buzzer to win the county in double overtime, that was something I’ll always remember,” he said. “It was such a great game, and there were several turning points in that game.
“Winning seven counties is great,” Key continued. “I won the first two years as head coach, and I didn’t think it was that big of a deal. Then we lost the next two after that, and I realized it was a really big deal.”
Key points to the “daily grind” of forming a team and watching it grow as one of the other things he has enjoyed about coaching at Greencastle.
“Believing in them, and trying to get them to believe in me, is always very challenging,” he said.
Key’s teams have become known for their aggressive, swarming 2-3 zone and patient Princeton-style offense.
He admittedly doesn’t know a lot yet about the personnel he will be inheriting, but expects many of his current strategies will be utilized at some point.
“Things change with different personnel and different opponents,” he said. “I haven’t seen them in the gym yet, so it’s really hard to say. I’m sure we’ll have the 2-3 zone in our back pocket.”
One thing that won’t change is Key’s demanding style — a style that admittedly is not for everyone, but produced great results on the court at Greencastle while also preparing his players for the expectations that life will ask of them.
“In coaching and in teaching, the kids respect expectations,” he said. “If you have expectations, and they know where they’re at with no gray areas, they respect it; they might fight it for a while, but eventually they buy into it. I think I’ve had 27 seniors to play for me, I would say nearly all of them [about 25, he estimates] really loved being a part of the program and bought into it. It may not have been that way when they were sophomores, but they became proud of the effort they put forth.”
Key does not see those expectations to be lowered, either on the court or in the classroom, at Greenfield-Central.
“I’m not going to change who I am,” he said. “High expectations and getting the girls to work hard. I met with some of the players on Friday, and I told them there will be days when I’m not their biggest fan — but we hope to work hard and put together some wins.”
Greenfield-Central competes in a sectional with Connersville, Mount Vernon, New Palestine, Pendleton Heights and Richmond. The Cougars are in the Hoosier Heritage Conference, which also contains all of those five schools except Richmond and Connersville in addition to Delta, New Castle, Shelbyville and Yorktown.
Key will inherit the top two returning scorers from this year, when the Cougars went 10-13 under Josh Means in his only season at G-C.
Junior-to-be Hannah Farrell, a 5-9 forward, led the Cougars with 14.2 points, 3.4 assists and 2.9 steals per game, while ranking second in rebounding at 5.3 per game.
Senior-to-be guard Katie Real added 10.2 points per game last year.
Means’ predecessor was Doug Laker, who had coached the team to records of 17-11, 23-5, 17-7 and 14-7 over the previous four seasons. Two seasons ago, Cougar standout Madison Wise — who now stars at Iowa State — was a finalist for Miss Basketball as G-C won the prestigious Hall of Fame Classic and lost in the regional finals.
Key admits being curious about the recent turnover, which many publicized reports attributed to a meddling administrator no longer at the school.
“They want stability,” he said. “They want someone to take over and be there for a while, and I’m not someone to hop from job to job.”
Key’s replacement will inherit four returning starters from last year’s team in senior-to-be guards Jalyn Duff, Bailey Shuee and Seelye Stoffregen and junior-to-be post player Allison Stevens and he is confident the team will continue to succeed.
“I think it’s one of the better teams I would have had here if I was able to stay,” he said. “The next coach might have different philosophies and ways of doing things, and that’s OK. Jalyn is a great point guard, and Bailey and Seelye are competitors that you know you can win with. Allison is someone who is going to turn into one of the better players in the area.”
Key noted that several other youngsters moving up from the junior varsity, plus some still in middle school, might also be helpful next year.
“That’s a team that should be able to compete,” he said. “And they’re just such great kids to be around. Leaving them and the program was a hard decision.”
Another person who Key will sorely miss in his departure is long-time assistant coach Bruce Cook, a former head coach at Cloverdale who has been on the bench for all of Key’s time at Greencastle.
“What he has done for our program is remarkable,” Key said. “My name is the one that’s in the paper, but he’s the one that keeps it together Monday through Thursday.
“He means a lot to the girls, and I hope he’s able to stay on and help the new coach through the adjustment period,” Key added. “Coach Cook has been invaluable to us.”
Key admits telling his players of the change was a tough meeting for all involved.
“Some of them knew that I was looking to go closer to home,” he said. “I think we all shed a few tears. When I told them, it was a sad room but they understand it’s life.”
Key teaches five different social studies subjects at Greencastle, and doesn’t know his exact schedule — but it will likely be half-time classroom teaching and the rest as a graduation coach to work with kids.
He will be able to make a few trips a week to Greenfield over the rest of this school year to conduct individual workouts and for him and his new players to get to know each other.
“I have really enjoyed my time here in Greencastle as a teacher, a coach and a citizen,” Key said. “It’s a really, really good small town. I couldn’t have asked for a better place to start my career.