7 minute read
‘For the love of the game’
Cinotte coaches into fourth decade
Story by Brandon LaChance
You’ve heard the saying or phrase, ‘For the love of the game,’ before. Sometimes, it sums up a two-hour contest. It could wrap up a season, a four-year junior high career, a fouryear high school career, or a career that expanded into college and to the professional ranks.
Pat Cinotte has loved the game of basketball since he came across it. He has carried the love via coaching into four decades as he has been on the sideline as an assistant with the Illinois Valley Men’s basketball team, a head coach with the DePue High School boys team, head coach with the Hall High School Lady Red Devils, the lead man with the IVCC women, and is currently running an AAU (Amateur Athletic Union) squad, the Illinois Valley Warriors.
“I just have a love for the game, and I knew a lot of people involved in basketball,” said Cinotte, who actually has 12 teams, both boys and girls, with the Warriors. “Now, it’s just keeping up with all of my old contacts and going to different places and watching a lot of the college coaches that have helped me through.
PHOTO CONTRIBUTED Above: The Illinois Valley Warriors surround coach Pat Cinotte as he breaks down the game plan.
“The other night, I was texting Doug Collins, the former Bulls coach about the Bulls. I know a lot of people, and I stay in contact with a lot of people. I go to a lot of practices and a lot of games every week.”
Cinotte, who hit year 31 as a coach this summer, is at five or six games a week. He has been for all of those 31 years as he has been scouting players to recruit or teams he would face. Since he has coached at the high school, junior college, and AAU levels, Cinotte knows firsthand about the pros and cons of club sports.
“The main focus of AAU is to try to play against the best players in the country and to get to the next level to play Division I, Division II, Division III, or NAIA,” Cinotte said. “The problem is college coaches only have so many times they can go on the road. They’ll spend a lot of time in April, May, June, and July on the road. But there are only certain weekends and contact days they can use for recruiting. They go to AAU tournaments where there are 200 teams. Chicago has the biggest tournament, where 1,000 teams from all over the country play at the United Center.
“It’s by far easier to get college coaches’ attention playing AAU. The hardest thing when you’re looking at our area – I’ve been coaching for 31 years and see a lot of kids – sometimes you have to evaluate and say, ‘What can this kid do at the next level? I know he scored 20 points a night here locally, but can he score that at the next level?’
“Also, what position would the player play? Some of these high schools need the players to play at different positions. That’s not where they’re going to play at the next level. That’s very tough, too, where we have kids playing a position all summer with the Warriors, then they go back to their high school team and they’re playing a different position. It hurts them, and it hurts the team,” he said.
The Warriors had a game last season where over 30 coaches were in the building.
And every single player was amped up to play well because they saw the college logos on the polos and the hands around the clipboards.
“In high school, you may not want a college coach to come watch a game against other teams they’re playing,” Cinotte said. “You wouldn’t want to waste one of a college coach’s recruit-
PHOTO CONTRIBUTED Pat Cinotte, a Spring Valley resident and coach of 31 years, gives guidance to his guard during a free throw at AAU tournament.
See CINOTTE page 16
PHOTO CONTRIBUTED At an AAU tournament during Covid-19, Illinois Valley Warriors coach Pat Cinotte (left) directs his team during a dead ball.
Cinotte
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ing days on a 50-point rout. That’s the reason you rarely see college coaches at high school games.”
“College coaches also don’t want to use a contact day on one player. They’d rather spend it watching 6-10 games where they can see 20-30 players that all have potential at the next level,” he added.
At any level, Cinotte has seen the changes with his own eyes. He recognizes AAU, where he has coached for the last six years, has a lot to do with it, both positively and negatively.
“The game has changed so much. You don’t want to say for the good or the bad because it’s tough. Kids need AAU, but I will say back when I played, we didn’t have AAU. We all played as a team and were one team,” Cinotte said. “Now, you have kids missing games or not going out for sports at their schools because of clubs and AAU. I was at a game recently, and one of the better players was at a softball tournament.
“When I was growing up, we were all a team. We played as a team. Now, parents and players, they’re all for themselves. It has affected officiating. It has affected coaches. It has affected everybody. There isn’t much team anymore. It’s about the individual because a parent has money wrapped into club or AAU sports and wants their child to outperform everyone on the court, even their teammates. The cheering used to be toward everyone in the same color jersey as their child. Now, it’s just for their kid.”
Cinotte cited that situation and a few others as to why he will not go back to high school coaching.
“I don’t think I’ll ever get back into high school coaching. I may get back into junior college coaching,” Cinotte
said. “There are too many situations right now with parents, coaches, and officiating. Back in the day, we didn’t care that much about the calls or the whistle. Now, everyone is after everyone. It goes back to, ‘I have to make sure my kid performs well today. You’re the problem, referee. You’re the problem, coach.’
“I’ve seen where kids don’t get college scholarships because of parent behavior. When I was coaching at IVCC and went out every night looking at kids, the first thing I wanted to know was who are the kid’s parents. I kept my eye on them and how they acted,” Cinotte said. “That’s what some of these parents don’t realize. The parent comes with the kid. Do I want them at every game? Do I want them calling me every day? You’re recruiting the kid, but you’re also recruiting the parents.
“At the AAU level, when there are college coaches in attendance, I get, ‘My daughter didn’t play enough. She needed to play more.’ So, you’re never making everyone happy. That’s just the flips and the grind,” he said.
Although he has seen all of the good and the bad, Cinotte comes to the gym every day ready to coach.
“What’s kept me going is the love of the game, and I love helping the kids,” Cinotte said. “Nothing makes me happier or more excited than when I have former players contact me and say, ‘Hey, this is what I’m doing now.’ Or when I see players getting a scholarship to play somewhere. That’s my reward, and that’s what I love.”
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