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Show As new basketball coach, Willard hopes to return school program to prominence mmuJ u u i j I ' I t rew . . j: I .'? I , r 'I New basketball coach Paul Willard met with Miner football coach Bob Burns Monday to get a tour of the P.C.H.S. facilities. bj Randy Hanskat "It is a great coup for us. I think he's the best small-school coach in the state,"-said Dr. Jack Dozier, principal of Park City High School His enthusiasm is for the newest addition to the school's coaching staff, Paul Willard. Willard was hired away from St. Joseph June 27 to handle the basketball coaching duties for the Miners. Dozier said the school approached Willard when coach Bruce Reid resigned following the '82 '83 season. But at the time the school couldn't offer Willard enough money to make the move. With the passage of the mill levy, the money is now available. Dozier again approached Willard to fill the spot recently vacated by Kent Critchlow. Dozier couldn't be more pleased. "He probably gets more out of the material he has to work with than any coach in the state. He'll make a marvelous addition to our staff." Willard, who teaches social studies, said Dozier was a big factor in his decision to leave St. Joseph. "I'm happy to come work for Jack," he said. "He is one of the few people I would be willing to move for. We see a lot of things in the same light." Joseph was a successful one. And league competition (especially in the last two season) gave him a chance to look at the Park City program. pro-gram. He sees both weaknesses and strengths. He said the Park City kids have good skills, but don't work together very well. "They lack consistency," he explained. "We've got to work on staying competitive through four quarters. He said he thinks the biggest strength of the program is In the younger players. He likes what he has seen and heard about the freshmen and sophomores. And he said it is nice to come into a program that has advantages lacking at St. Joseph. For instance, St. Joseph did not have a tootDaii program or weight room. Park City has both. He wants to return Miner basketball to the prominence that put it on a par with other area schools. After last season's 4-13 fifth-place finish in the division that could be a formidable task. W illard plans to work on defense, which he considers the most important facet of the game. Offense is secondary, he thinks. He said the players must want to play good defense. From that aggressive defense will come offense. Willard attended the University of San Francisco on a baseball basketball basket-ball academic scholarship, but he said his true value to the basketball team wasn't on the court. "I wasn't any all-star," he laughed. "My job was to keep the varsity guard (his roommate) on the court (through tutoring)." With his success at the high school level, some wonder if Willard is looking still higher, to a college coaching job. If a position was offered Willard said he would consider it, but said he'd probably stay with the high school kids. "I like this level. The rewards aren't in dollars and cents, they're in the future success of the kids. You can have a tremendous impact at this age." |
