Bloomington High School North, Nikean, 2003, Page 15

Description:	From North to the NBAFormer North Student Now Coaching In the NBAby: Chris HubertyMost Bloomington residents are aware of the rich tradition of Bloomington Norths boys basketball program. The Cougars won thestate championship in 1997 and were runner-up in 2000.In addition, North has put out a number of division one college players including Duany Duany who playedat the University of Wisconsin and his brother Kueth Duany who plays at Syracuse University. More2^ recently, 2002 graduate Sean May left the Cougar Den to play at North Carolina University and 2000m graduate Jared Jeffries who played at Indiana University before being drafted number 11 by the NationalBasketball Associations Washington Wizards in last summers draft. There is, however, another former^ £ Cougar basketball standout in the NBA that may not be as familiar as to younger North fans- Terry Stotts.Stotts is not a player, hes a coach. Stotts became the head coach of the Atlanta Hawks in Decemberafter previous head coach Lon Kruger was fired. Stotts began the season as an assistant coach with theHawks.Stotts was born in 1957 in Cedar Falls, Iowa. Although, he played basketball nearly his whole life, hesaid he really got into basketball through his father.My dad was a high school basketball coach, Stotts said. I grew up with it. I went to his practices.Stotts played his last two high school seasons at North after being raised inIllinois, Wisconsin and Guam. The 1976 North graduate was the first Cougar tobe named an All-Star.Stotts said North seemed very big during his two years at the school. One ofthe first things that Stotts did when he arrived to school was sign up for the basketball team. He said the teamwas very good in his senior season. It won the sectional championship with a victory over Martinsville, butthen lost in overtime to Franklin Central in the regional. He said the current North and South rivalry existedwhen he was a student.Aside from the basketball team, Stotts enjoyed the academic side of North. He was very interested ina variety of subjects. He enjoyed math such as Trigonometry and Calculus and science such as Chemistry.In addition to math and science, Stotts enjoyed foreign language.I enjoyed French with Mr. Ritz, Stotts said.Following his two years at North, Stotts attended and played basketball for Oklahoma University wherehe was an All-Big Eight selection as a senior in 1980.After graduation, Stotts wanted to be involved in medicine/dentistry,but then decided to pursue a career as a professional basketball player. He had tryouts in the NBA, butcouldnt make it. He did, however, play professionally in Italy, France, and Spain for over 10 years. Healso played inthe Continental Basketball Association (the CBA is the NBAs minor leagues).Following his playing career, Stotts became an assistant coach in the CBA under George Karl.After one season together, Karl departed the CBA to coach in Spain. Stotts, however, stayed in the CBA asan assistant and reunited with Karl one year later when he came back to the United States to become thehead coach of the Seattle Supersonics. Stotts began his career with the Sonics as a scout and was laterthat season as an assistant coach.After five years on the bench in Seattle, Stotts remained Karls top assitant coach when the Supersonicshead coach took a similar position with the Milwaukee Bucs.This past fall, Stotts ended his 14-year collaboration with Karl and left the Bucs to become the assistantcoach under Kruger with the Hawks.Stotts is happy to finally be given a head coaching position in the NBA, however, he isnt fond of thecircumstance in which he got his first opportunity.It was very mixed feelings, Stotts said. I was very grateful that he [Kruger] hired me as an assistant. Itwas dissapointing. It [being hired] was at the expense of a very good coach.Kruger was let go after an 11-16 start. As of February 25, Stotts is 10-19 as head coach.In addition to turning around a franchise that is currently fifth place in the Central Division, Stotts mustalso find a way to put the fans back in the seats. The Hawks stadium can hold around 19,000 people, andonly about 7,000 to 7,500 people have been showing up the past couple of games.I know that if we get a winning team, the attendance will take care of itself. Stotts said.Although life as an NBA coach can be extremely stressful, Stotts is happy to be where he is and is grateful for his pastopportunities.Basketball has been very good to me, Stotts said.F/asMac/c15
Source:	http://cdm17129.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/hs-bloomnorth/id/5248
Collection:	Bloomington High School North

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