Bedford Boys Coach

A decision has been made for the Bedford boy's basketball coach. I can't say anything until it comes out in the "regular news outlets", but I will say this:

1- If you do some digging amongst the HS sports sites. You'll get your answer.

2- This news item will change the landscape of D1 basketball in the immediate future.

Now, that the new Bedford coach, Mike Fitzpatrick, has been reported in a "regular" news outlet (New Hampshire Notebook), we can comment on the news item.

Here's the link to Jeremy's story:

http://www.nhnotebook.com/2012/08/fitzpatrick-leaving-memorial-for-bedford.html


If you are asking why Coach Fitzpatrick would leave a team/program that should be top 4 this season and with a great feeder system with the Bishop Elite players, the answer can be found in the following quotes from the NHN article:



On paper they (Memorial) look like they could be title contenders this winter. But the team didn't have a particularly strong summer in the BST Summer League, as they forfeited multiple games due to not enough players showing up. Many of Memorial's top players play for the Bishop Elite AAU program, which is run by Memorial JV coach Sudi Lett.

"If there is a high school summer league game and an AAU practice on the same night, I expect my players to be at their high school game" said Fitzpatrick.

"I like to coach groups of players who are dedicated and I hope Bedford will do that."


The above information is all you need to know as to why Fitzy abruptly picked up his clipboard to move from Memorial to Bedford. Remember, Coach Fitzpatrick did the same thing when he resigned at Nashua North a few years ago. Fitzy wasn't exactly receiving off season commitment from Titan players, so he turned his clipboard there too.

Sometimes, today's player just doesn't get it. You can argue the balancing act of pleasing your AAU coach and a Varsity coach at the same time. In some instances it just doesn't work with the Pleasing Pie. AAU has it's time and place. Years ago AAU was a March to June time frame. If you read the NHN the Bishop Elite is having Fall try outs. That's funny because the dates were listed as August 25th and September 1st. In my calendar that says Fall tryouts are at the end of this summer. Jack Quirk has a huge coaching position to fill at Memorial and time is of the essence as Fall League starts in 2 weekends for boys at Rivier and BG.

There was a reason why Memorial would substitute 5 players in every 2 to 3 minutes last year. Some people thought it was to keep fresh legs and the pressure on the Crusader opponent. The real reason was that Xs and Os would break down after a concentrated amount of time and when the mental breakdown happened then it would translate to a breakdown on the court with the Crusader play. So, the Memorial players have tried to serve too many coaches and tried to pass out too many pieces of the Pleasing Pie to too many people. They are now suffering the consequences by losing one of the best high school basketball coaches in the history of NH high school basketball. My God it is a different time with a different type of player, isn't it?

Where does Memorial go from here? Good question. Memo to Jack Quirk: He has to hire a young coach, in the 27 to 40 year old range with energy and who is closer generationally to the "new" type of player Memorial has entering their basketball program right now. I'm not saying this generational gap is the Memorial player's fault or Coach Fitzpatrick's fault. It just is what it is. I'm not saying a closer generational coach will take Memorial to the top this year, but with today's Memorial player having the attention span of the last text he sent off on his cell phone, it would help the program if Quirk hires a younger coach. If an older tried and true coach, 40 to 60 years old is hired to coach Memorial, the chances with the new type of player at Memorial, that this coach will not be successful.

Fitzpatrick inherits a basketball program in Bedford with an outstanding feeder system. Their travel basketball program in the 3rd to 8th grade level is one of the best, if not the best in the state. To give you an example most towns will have a 5th/6th grade boy's travel team. If it is a team of 10 players 6 will be 6th graders and 4 will be 5th graders. They might compete in an A or B division of a the local travel league. In Bedford they will have an all 6th grade team competing in an A division, an all 5th grade team competing in a B division and sometimes a mix of the 5th or 6th graders that compete in a B or C division. So, in Bedford this means they will have 30 5th and 6th grade boys playing 15 to 20 competitive basketball games from December to March. Not all of them will end up playing on the high school team, but at least Bedford gives more basketball boys a chance to develop than most other towns do. To top it all off Bedford has a high school basketball rec division which could have 80 to 120 boys playing in any one season. Let's say some diamond in the Bedford basketball rough doesn't pan out in his 9th/10th grade year for tryouts at Bedford High. Let's say this player shoots up 4 to 6 inches in a couple of years and grooms his basketball game or just becomes more skilled with hard work. That boy has the Bedford high school rec division to get better in and gain more confidence. These Bedford high school rec games, for the most part, are like a bunch of JV games being played every week. This is huge to cultivate a player or two to add depth to a high school basketball program. Not too many towns can claim to have this resevoir of basketball building for talent.

Good luck to Coach Fitzpatrick as he moves on to another stage of his coaching career at Bedford. Good luck to Memorial AD Jack Quirk for the decision he has to make for the future of Memorial High School basketball.

The choice for Memorial's new head coach should be obvious. Sudi Lett if he wants it.

On the surface one would think, but .......... This is why there is a posting of the job and the interview process and you have ask........ Does Memorial want Sudi Lett???

I agree that Memorial will have no choice but to hire a younger coach who can connect with the current players. My prediction is there will be a lot of candidates for this job. A couple of reliable sources have told me that BG varsity girls coach Scott Hazelton is very interested in the memorial job . I do not believe Lett has a chance of getting the job, but time will tell. Should be a very interesting few weeks over there .

Although you can't ever rule out a candidate or any scenario, the one where Hazelton would move to Memorial from BG would seem remote. He's just getting established at BG. There is the dynamic of Hazelton running the Rivals aau and coming over and dealing with Bishop Elite aau players. You have pros of coaching private vs public (For example: transfer of Paige Parkinson).

On the other hand there are a lot of coaches and people involved with D1 girl's basketball that feel all Coach Hazelton has to do is keep the balls in the ball bag inflated and BG will win back to back state titles come next March. I'm not saying this in a disparaging way, but just pointing out the BG girls will win just about every game (not scheduled with Lond, Winny or Bedford) by a 20 to 40 point margin this coming season. You already have a 99% chance of booking BG vs Londonderry in the D1 girls state championship at 7 pm on the 2nd Saturday in March of 2013 at SNHU. So, maybe Coach Hazelton might be up to the challenge of coming into the D1 boy division and matching up Xs and Os with Doc, Fitzy, Migs and Goody on a weekly basis.

Yes, there should be a lot of candidates applying for the Memorial boy's coaching job.

One interesting scheduling tidbit with regards to this thread.

Bedford's first D1 basketball game is scheduled with BG. Migs welcomes Fitzy to his new coaching job at Bedford. You gotta love it !!!