For the Cumberland Times-News
CUMBERLAND - Bishop Walsh Principal Sam Torres announced Monday that Dr. Jeff Rhodes is the new head boys basketball coach at the school, succeeding Gene Paul.
Rhodes is a 1979 graduate of Valley High School where he played basketball under legendary coach John Meyers. The 1979 squad went 27-0 and won the state's Class C title. Rhodes went on to play basketball for two years at Western Maryland College and later graduated from Frostburg State in 1983. He graduated from the University of Maryland Dental School in 1987 and then became a member of the United States Navy Dental Corps. He has practiced dentistry locally since 1991.
Rhodes says he will draw inspiration from Coach Meyers, as he thinks another area coach already has.
"He (Meyers) was a great influence on me. I played at Valley at the same time (Mountain Ridge boys head coach) Dave Hobel did, and I'm sure Coach Meyers' influence can be seen in his style. He was a coach who really stressed the fundamentals of defense, rebounding, shooting, free throws and fast breaks. We won't run anything complicated, just return to the fundamentals that you can work on everyday."
Rhodes saw some very positive things from last year's Spartans who had the school's best Alhambra Catholic Invitational Tournament showing in years.
"There was a pretty good effort being put forth during the ACITs, and that means a good foundation to work with. We have a lot of kids returning, and should have excellent guard play. I believe we need to get a little tougher physically, and rebound better to be able to continue to improve against teams in the ACIT."
He also sees the return of more area teams to the schedule as a positive. The Spartans are scheduled to join the Appalachian Mountain Athletic Conference and will play all teams in the conference this season except for Hampshire.
"Competing in the AMAC will be a good step for us, and I think City League games are always critical. It should be exciting for Cumberland this season, because I feel we'll have three pretty good teams."
"My main goal," said Rhodes, "is to strengthen our junior varsity program, and to make sure that our youth league teams remain competitive."
He cited the need for a strong feeder program to sustain a successful program as reason for making it such a strong priority.
Rhodes was a local referee for several years, officiating both at the high school and college level. He has coached freshman teams at both Beall and Bishop Walsh, and he has coached in several youth leagues.
"I officiated for over 10 years in the area and have done some work on the West Coast as well. It helped keep my hand in a sport that I love, but now that I have kids who will be involved, I wanted to step over to the coaching side."
Rhodes is married and lives in Cumberland. He and his wife Karrey have three sons: Kyle is entering the 10th grade, Liam is entering the 8th grade, and Sean is entering the 4th grade at Bishop Walsh.
"I have to thank my wife and kids for allowing me this opportunity," said Rhodes. "Being a head coach will take even more of my time away from them, but they are enthusiastic sports fans so I think they'll enjoy it as well.
"I would also like to thank Coach Gene Paul for giving me the opportunity to coach at the freshman level last season. Principal Torres and (athletic director) Jim Zamagias, as well as the entire BW community, all have my appreciation."
Torres stated, "Jeff brings enthusiasm and dedication to Bishop Walsh. He and his family are heavily involved in all aspects of our school's academic and sports life and we look forward to his leadership of our basketball program."
Contact Chris Appel at cappel@times-news.com.
