If you are a basketball coach, especially a new one like 24-year-old Carson High coach Jordan Glover, you are full of optimism during the spring and summer.
Glover, who took over for Carlos Mendeguia, has held a plethora of open gyms and taken his varsity team to two summer tournaments, including one at South Lake Tahoe and another at Spanish Springs.
“Things have been going really good,” Glover said. “I’ve gotten a lot of support from parents and players so far. Things have been very positive.
“Early on, we had 7 to 10 kids show up for open gyms. Now, it’s 25 to 30. We have three different groups going right now.”
When there is a new regime, interest tends to spike. There can sometimes be more interest in playing for a new coach, especially if he is new to the program.
“I think it really does,” Glover said. “When I met (with players), everybody is starting from scratch; ground zero. I’m trying to change the culture.”
Carson has a winning culture. The Senators never missed the playoffs under Mendeguia, and reached state once and lost in the regional finals twice.
Glover has a high basketball IQ for his age, and the fact that he’s only six or seven years older than his players, could work to his advantage in many ways.
“At times we can joke around and have fun,” Glover said. “Other times they know it’s time to be serious.”
Through two tournaments, the results have been mixed. Glover said the team played much better at South Tahoe than it did at Spanish Springs.
“It was good to see what we needed to work on at Spanish Springs,” Glover said. “At South Tahoe we played four games, and three of them we had a chance to win.
“Two of the games we lost by two points, and we had a couple of possession where we missed easy lay-ups. If we make those we win those games. We played Clovis West and we stayed with them for a half.”
Glover estimates that he has only 15 percent of his offense in thus far. On defense, he wants to play man-to-man.
“It’s not nearly enough,” he said. “We working with players on them understanding their role. They are starting to pick up the flow of the game; move the ball so everybody is touching it.
“It is all man. We want to have a lot of ball pressure and create a lot of havoc.”
One player who has surprised Glover is Johnny Randall, who played very little last season.
“He has the nicest jump shot I’ve ever coached,” Glover said. “He gets good elevation and has a high release which makes it tough to block.”
Glover has two tournaments scheduled – in Susanville at Lassen High on Dec. 15-16 and at Livermore Dec. 28-30.
Glover said some regular-season games are already being moved around, including contests against Reno and Hug.