2015-16 HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL PREVIEW
STAYING POWER Hosman, Miller, Murphy and Smithpeters have made huge impact on region’s hoops
SCOTT MEES THE SOUTHERN
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ongevity and success at the same school seems to be something that is fading away when it comes to high school basketball coaches. But Southern Illinois is fortunate to have four coaches who have accomplished both feats and continue to do so. Joe Hosman, Jim Miller, Daryl Murphy, and Randy Smithpeters have all won more than 400 games, and each man has been the head coach at his current school for at least 18 years. All four men have coached in a state championship game as well.
Joe Hosman (Massac County)
Hosman is beginning his 30th season as the head coach of the Massac County boys basketball team. At one time, he was a fireball on the sidelines, but nine kids and a wealth of experience later, today’s Hosman is a bit different. “I’ve been very blessed and had a lot of good players and good assistant coaches,” Hosman said. “This has been a great place to coach. There is no place I would rather have raised my family. Hopefully, I’ve given this community as much as it has given me. I’m hoping I can hang in there a few more years.” In 1986, Hosman began his run as the leader of the Patriots. But he started his head coaching career at Eldorado in 1979. Fast forward 37 years, and Hosman is just 21 wins away from 700 during his terrific career. But Hosman never makes it about himself; that’s just not who he is. “I am coaching kids right now, and I coached their dads, too,” Hosman said. “I’ve also had their moms in school, and that is really neat. I’ve had kids that I’ve coached, and my son, Isaac, is on a team with their kids now. It’s been a lot of fun. The coaches that I’ve got right now are not only great coaches, but great friends. They’re all good role models in the community, and they’re people that you want your kids to be around.” One of his proudest moments was coaching his sons, Zach and Andrew, when Massac County won its first sectional championship in 2000. But the team everyone remembers is the one from 2009, which finished as the Class 2A state runner-up. “It’s one of those things where that can’t be the only reason you coach, but just to get there into the championship was really great,” Hosman said. “The support of our community and those players I had was tremendous. We represented our community and Southern Illinois well. I was so proud to be a part of it. Those kids took us on a great ride.”
Jim Miller (Carbondale)
After growing up in Charleston, Miller spent nine years as head coach between Wilmington and Fairfield. Miller didn’t have much success at Wilmington over the course of five seasons, but did win a pair of regional titles at Fairfield from 1994-98. “Basketball was kind of secondary at Wilmington,” Miller said. “I thought I was locked in, and that I’d never get another job after Wilmington. It was a good experience, but basketball just wasn’t important to anybody there.” A solid four-year run at Fairfield ultimately led to Miller
THE SOUTHERN FILE PHOTOS
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Massac County head coach Joe Hosman watches his team during a 2013 game in Goreville. Murphysboro head coach Daryl Murphy encourages his team during a 2014 game against Carterville in Murphysboro. Harrisburg head coach Randy Smithpeters talks to his team during their 2013 state championship game against Seton Academy at Carver Arena in Peoria. Carbondale coach Jim Miller talks to his starters before a 2013 game against Marion at Carbondale.
getting the Carbondale job, which he credits to former CCHS athletic director Vicki King. Miller is beginning his 18th season as head coach of the Terriers. “I had no idea this would last when I took the job, and 18 years at one school is really unheard of anymore because people don’t stay in one position that long,” Miller said. “It took a job like Carbondale to get me to leave Fairfield because that was a great position and community. People really cared about basketball, and that’s what I was looking for. When the Carbondale position opened up, I knew people here cared about basketball and it was a priority.” Miller enjoys Carbondale for what it has to offer, which is a lot. The diversity among the people is something he really appreciates. “This is our home, and I’ve spent more time here than I have anywhere else in my life,” Miller said. “This is my kids’ home. Carbondale has given us everything that we could possibly want. Coming from Charleston, which is also a university town, I knew I wanted to get back in a university environment. It gives the kids so many things that a lot of towns don’t have.” Miller has won 423 games in 26 years as a head coach. His 2004 Terriers finished fourth in the state and followed that as the state runner-up in 2005. “One of my proudest years was when we got fourth place in the state,” Miller said. “I think during the Elite Eight it was the highest percentage of wins among all the teams in tournament history. We played two nationally ranked teams. I never entered any season thinking we had a state caliber team until we actually got to that point.” Miller has raised four daughters, all of whom are good athletes. He appreciates the environment they’ve grown up in as well as the team-first motto that
most of his players have taken over the years. “There is that myth that Carbondale is a rough town. But you know what, we have good kids that are committed and doing things for the right reason,” Miller said. “We’re thrilled with Carbondale as a town and thrilled with Carbondale High School. I really don’t want to be anywhere else. This has been a great place for me and my family.”
Daryl Murphy (Murphysboro)
When he first came to Southern Illinois in the early 1990s, Murphy never figured he’d be here for the long haul. But a few decades later, the Murphysboro head coach has a cc u m u l a te d 4 13 v i c to r i e s between his current school and Century. “My wife and I planned on this being a short stop and that we’d probably head back to the Springfield area,” Murphy said. “But it just hasn’t worked out like that, and once my son, Daryl, got involved in things, here we are. My son was born here before I even started my first season at Murphysboro.” Murphy is about to start his 20th season as head coach of the Red Devils. He wins when he has great talent and also when he has rosters that aren’t imposing on paper or during pre-game warmups, which might be even more special. “I don’t know if it means more because it’s hard to replace winning,” Murphy said. “But without question, last year’s conference championship team had to be one of our best accomplishments. But I’ve also had teams that have won 27 games in a row in the conference. That isn’t easy to do whether you’re really good or not.” The Red Devils finished 22-7 last year, and won their conference championship by two games, despite being picked to finish near the bottom of the
conference in another publication. Murphy is a fierce competitor and would probably run through walls himself if it meant winning more basketball games. “We’ve built a system here,” Murphy said. “We lost a starter for the year, and I told the boys it was a plug and play system. We feel like we run a pretty dynamic system that is very hard to guard. Several coaches in the conference have said we’re difficult to prepare for. Things have worked out really well for us.” After losing in the super-sectional in 2010, Murphy’s excellent squad won 35 straight games before falling in the 2011 state championship game. “I started four juniors the year before, and then we really got going in the summertime after that season,” Murphy said. “When we got midway through that summer, I told those kids it was Peoria or bust. If we don’t make it to Peoria it would be a disappointing season.” It was an amazing atmosphere in Peoria during March of 2011. Red Devil fans were everywhere during a weekend to remember. “The headline in the Peoria newspaper said, ‘Murphysboro takes Peoria by storm,’” Murphy said. “I think we had 3,000 people up there. It was an awesome experience. If I never get to go back, I’m more than happy because that was a goal of mine since I can remember. For the city of Murphysboro, it was incredible.”
Randy Smithpeters (Harrisburg)
school we can’t beat,” Smithpeters said. “I had a lot of good people that helped me out with the scouting report and personnel about Seton Academy. You get into the course of the game, and it’s just another game. We finally got the lead down the stretch, and that put a lot of pressure on Seton, and they weren’t really used to that.” That was the greatest achievem e n t d u r i n g S m i t h p e te rs ’ 22-year run at Harrisburg. But he’s had plenty of other very good teams and has amassed 425 wins during his career. “It flies by, and I’ve had some great talent,” Smithpeters said. “I think any coach with longevity has had some really good talent. I’ve been very blessed here at Harrisburg. You don’t accomplish what all we have without a lot of talent.” Even with six sectional titles and two trips to state, there were some lean years. The Bulldogs won just 28 games over a fouryear span in the early 2000s. Smithpeters was able to get through those tough times. “I’d never been through that before, and you feel like you need some therapy,” Smithpeters said. “Then you start to question everything. We always had a routine, and you’re sitting there in January with two wins, and you start to question whether we need to be doing this stuff that we’ve done for many years when it has always worked.” Smithpeters has coached all five of his sons in basketball over the years. That can be a tricky situation to pull off at times. “I think coaches do expect more out of their sons, and I did too, which is maybe not good for them,” Smithpeters said. “My kids had been in the gym since they were old enough to walk. If I were a welder, then my kids would know more about welding than anything else. They should know more about basketball just because they’ve been here around it so much the whole time. I was probably harder on them that I was on other players.” Unlike some current head coaches, Smithpeters spent more than a decade as an assistant coach before he got his shot at the top job. He learned a lot from David Lee and Curt Reed while at McLeansboro. “I’d been in it long enough that I truly felt that I’d dealt with just about every situation,” Smithpeters said. “At McLeansboro with David and Curt, you were a team. You did everything together. As a freshmen coach, I scouted for the varsity and was at every practice. I had input with the scouting report and how you react to it. It really was a team effort as far the coaches go. That really prepared me for being a head coach.” Defeating a loaded private school team in the state championship game is something multiple coaches haven’t been able to accomplish in Southern Illinois. It’s something that Smithpeters still may not fully appreciate even a few years after the fact. “It really doesn’t sink in until later when you truly realize what you’ve done,” Smithpeters said. “It was actually a big relief after the super-sectional because I knew we had a state trophy. Harrisburg had never gotten a state trophy in basketball before that. That was something I really wanted for our guys and our town.”
Smithpeters is the only coach of these four that actually won a state championship. His 2013 Bulldogs surprised a lot of people when they defeated Chicago’s Seton Academy in the Class 2A state title game. scott.mees@thesouthern.com “We went into that not think- 618-351-5086 ing, well here we go, this is a On Twitter: @SIprepsports