Groves A Good Fit For Triton
Young coach turns boys hoops program into 1A powerhouse
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By Anthony [email protected]
In his eighth season at the helm of the Triton program, Groves has accumulated a 159-41 record, which is the most victories by a coach with his experience.
With one game remaining in his eighth season, Groves’ next closest coaching counterpart in experience and success would be Westview’s Rob Yoder, who has 166 wins in 10 seasons.
Also, Groves’ .795 winning percentage in IHSAA play is second only to Munster coach Mike Hackett’s (.816) in 13 seasons work.
Groves has never had a losing season and has won at least 20 games the past six seasons, including six-straight sectional crowns, four regionals, four semistates and a possible second state title when the Trojans meet Borden at 10:30 a.m. in Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
All this from a coach whose varsity coaching career began through some controversy.
Sitting at 4-13 during the 2004-05 season, then-Triton coach Mike McBride submitted his resignation following school board meetings involving frustrated parents and players, who alleged verbal abuse.
An assistant at the time, Groves stepped in to coach the final four games of the season, going 0-4.
“That was not a good situation for me, personally,” Groves said of filling in for McBride, who had gone 37-48 with a sectional title in four-plus seasons at Triton. “I’ve known Mike for a long time. He went Bethel (College) and was on the team my freshman year. They’re friends of my wife’s family, having grown up here in Bourbon. He’s known my wife forever. It was just a close friend, so it was an ugly situation all around. There was really not much good that came from that.”
With his friend being forced out, Groves was faced with a dilemma.
“I knew I wanted to be here at Triton,” he said. “I wanted to be here for the kids and this is where I want to live and want to be. When all that happened, I was kind of torn on whether or not to resign. But I knew I was going to stay here. It’s my job, my career and what I want to do with my life. I made my decision based on that. It turned out well in the long run, but it definitely wasn’t a fun situation for me.”
It definitely has worked out for a guy who grew up on the opposite side of Marshall County.
A 1994 graduate of John Glenn High School, Groves played for coach Gordon Mosson, who later went on to serve as an assistant to Groves at Triton.
Following high school, Groves went on to play basketball for Mike Lightfoot at Bethel College, spending his freshman season watching the Pilots win the NAIA Division II National Title in 1995.
While he was a member of the team, Groves admits his minutes were limited.
“With my stature and unathletic ability, I wasn’t a college basketball player, but I still enjoyed being a part of the program,” he said.
After Playing for Bethel during his freshman and sophomore seasons, Groves spent his junior and senior seasons as a coach – at North Liberty Elementary.
“I talked to coach Lightfoot about that being what I kind of wanted to do, and we both thought it was probably a good way for me to get started,” he said.
Following his graduation from Bethel in 1998, Groves got married and was hired at West Central Middle School, where he coached eighth grade basketball for two seasons until moving over to Triton in 2000.
At Triton, Groves was moving to the school his wife, Carrie (White) Groves, had graduated from in 1995.
Beginning as a junior varsity coach to Joe Bennett, Groves was a member of a staff that went 32-17 in two seasons, winning two sectional titles and a regional.
Following the 2001 season, Bennett moved on to coach at Westfield and McBride filled the void.
Going 46-27 with three sectional titles and one regional, Bennett had been one of Triton’s most successful coaches, but his tenure was short-lived, which was a trend in Bourbon.
Though it doesn’t seem that long, Groves is already the school’s longest tenured boys basketball coach.
And with so much success, the lure of moving on to a bigger school is there, but Groves says he’s happy with where he is, which is in Bourbon with his wife and three daughters – Delanie (11), Jolie (9), and Mylie (5).
“I don’t plan on going anywhere,” he said. “I love it here. It’s where my wife is from and we’ve lived here 13 years. We enjoy it and don’t have any plans to go anywhere.”
And that’s good news for Triton Athletic Director Mason McIntyre, who’s not in denial about the prospect of other schools snooping around his successful coach.
“That’s always a concern when you’re at a small school, especially for us, because we’ve been used as a stepping stone many times before,” McIntyre said. “Jason is now the longest-tenured coach. Before him, the longest coach to be here was Doug Snyder, who stayed seven years (1985-1991). So, that thought is always in the back of your mind. You hear rumors all the time and I couldn’t blame another school for wanting to be interested in him. He’s just a phenomenal coach.”
But getting to be a ‘phenomenal coach’ didn’t just happen.
“My very first scrimmage was at Wabash,” Groves said about his first full season at Triton. “We went there and we looked terrible. I came home and did not sleep a wink that night. I was tossing and turning and just thinking about what to do. I came in the next day and we just got after the kids. We talked about defense and effort and things like that. I think that was good for me. I’m a person that’s going to learn from his mistakes. That’s for sure. If I make a mistake, I’m going to correct it. If we play bad against a team, I’m going to figure out what we did wrong and correct it for the next game. That’s kind of what I did (after the scrimmage). We came out with no effort and no defense. I came back and demanded that kids play defense. That’s something you can control.”
That kind of defense was something he learned before he ever picked up a whistle.
He learned it playing for Mosson, who went 365-198 in 25 seasons, then playing for Lightfoot, who’s won 630 games and three NAIA Division II national titles at Bethel.
After playing for such successful coaches, Groves was able to merge the two into his style.
“Gordon’s more half-court, and when I was at Bethel, it was more up-and-down,” he said. “But both had their core fundamentals. You played good defense, maybe in a different way, but you had to play defense. You had to take care of the ball and have excitement and enthusiasm for what you were doing.”
Defense is the core, but when it comes to offense, Groves lets the personnel dictate his coaching style.
“It’s just about adapting to the team you have,” he said. “Two years ago (when Triton lost to Indianapolis Metropolitan at state), we were a pretty different team than what we are this year. We shot a lot of 3s. If the kids had an open look, it was going up. We had Griffyn Carpenter, Jordan Everett, Quentyn Carpenter and Clay (Yeo). It was just a different team. I’d like to think I adjusted to who we have. If we have kids that can light it up and shoot, then we’re probably going to spread you out and shoot it. With this group, we’re not the greatest shooters in the world, but we have a guy averaging 26 points (in Yeo), so we’re going to get him some touches and have some other guys do what they’re capable of doing.”
All season long, Yeo’s been the go-to guy, but it took a little time for the rest of the guys to realize their roles.
Struggling to find leadership and intensity in practice, Groves had a simple message for his guys following their 50-48 loss to LaVille in the semifinals of the TCU Bi-County Tournament in Lakeville on Jan. 18, which dropped the Trojans to 8-5 on the year.
“We had lost five games at that point, which for us, is quite a bit,” Groves said. “We kind of had a heart-to-heart and talked about those things. Luckily for us, and the seniors, they changed the way they went about their business.”
Since that loss, Triton’s reeled off 12-straight wins going into the state finals.
“All season, I kept telling the guys, ‘You have the potential to be good’, and I always thought they did,” he said. “When you have a great player like Clay, I think you always have the potential to be good, if the other guys know what they’re capable of doing and what they’re not capable of doing.”
If his guys can continue to follow his message, Groves may have a chance to win his second state title.
With as much success as he’s had, McIntyre, who served as the JV coach during Groves’ first two seasons, is enjoying the journey.
“If you would have told me we’d be doing what we’re doing now, I wouldn’t have believed it,” he said. “It’s just been a crazy ride.”[[In-content Ad]]
In his eighth season at the helm of the Triton program, Groves has accumulated a 159-41 record, which is the most victories by a coach with his experience.
With one game remaining in his eighth season, Groves’ next closest coaching counterpart in experience and success would be Westview’s Rob Yoder, who has 166 wins in 10 seasons.
Also, Groves’ .795 winning percentage in IHSAA play is second only to Munster coach Mike Hackett’s (.816) in 13 seasons work.
Groves has never had a losing season and has won at least 20 games the past six seasons, including six-straight sectional crowns, four regionals, four semistates and a possible second state title when the Trojans meet Borden at 10:30 a.m. in Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
All this from a coach whose varsity coaching career began through some controversy.
Sitting at 4-13 during the 2004-05 season, then-Triton coach Mike McBride submitted his resignation following school board meetings involving frustrated parents and players, who alleged verbal abuse.
An assistant at the time, Groves stepped in to coach the final four games of the season, going 0-4.
“That was not a good situation for me, personally,” Groves said of filling in for McBride, who had gone 37-48 with a sectional title in four-plus seasons at Triton. “I’ve known Mike for a long time. He went Bethel (College) and was on the team my freshman year. They’re friends of my wife’s family, having grown up here in Bourbon. He’s known my wife forever. It was just a close friend, so it was an ugly situation all around. There was really not much good that came from that.”
With his friend being forced out, Groves was faced with a dilemma.
“I knew I wanted to be here at Triton,” he said. “I wanted to be here for the kids and this is where I want to live and want to be. When all that happened, I was kind of torn on whether or not to resign. But I knew I was going to stay here. It’s my job, my career and what I want to do with my life. I made my decision based on that. It turned out well in the long run, but it definitely wasn’t a fun situation for me.”
It definitely has worked out for a guy who grew up on the opposite side of Marshall County.
A 1994 graduate of John Glenn High School, Groves played for coach Gordon Mosson, who later went on to serve as an assistant to Groves at Triton.
Following high school, Groves went on to play basketball for Mike Lightfoot at Bethel College, spending his freshman season watching the Pilots win the NAIA Division II National Title in 1995.
While he was a member of the team, Groves admits his minutes were limited.
“With my stature and unathletic ability, I wasn’t a college basketball player, but I still enjoyed being a part of the program,” he said.
After Playing for Bethel during his freshman and sophomore seasons, Groves spent his junior and senior seasons as a coach – at North Liberty Elementary.
“I talked to coach Lightfoot about that being what I kind of wanted to do, and we both thought it was probably a good way for me to get started,” he said.
Following his graduation from Bethel in 1998, Groves got married and was hired at West Central Middle School, where he coached eighth grade basketball for two seasons until moving over to Triton in 2000.
At Triton, Groves was moving to the school his wife, Carrie (White) Groves, had graduated from in 1995.
Beginning as a junior varsity coach to Joe Bennett, Groves was a member of a staff that went 32-17 in two seasons, winning two sectional titles and a regional.
Following the 2001 season, Bennett moved on to coach at Westfield and McBride filled the void.
Going 46-27 with three sectional titles and one regional, Bennett had been one of Triton’s most successful coaches, but his tenure was short-lived, which was a trend in Bourbon.
Though it doesn’t seem that long, Groves is already the school’s longest tenured boys basketball coach.
And with so much success, the lure of moving on to a bigger school is there, but Groves says he’s happy with where he is, which is in Bourbon with his wife and three daughters – Delanie (11), Jolie (9), and Mylie (5).
“I don’t plan on going anywhere,” he said. “I love it here. It’s where my wife is from and we’ve lived here 13 years. We enjoy it and don’t have any plans to go anywhere.”
And that’s good news for Triton Athletic Director Mason McIntyre, who’s not in denial about the prospect of other schools snooping around his successful coach.
“That’s always a concern when you’re at a small school, especially for us, because we’ve been used as a stepping stone many times before,” McIntyre said. “Jason is now the longest-tenured coach. Before him, the longest coach to be here was Doug Snyder, who stayed seven years (1985-1991). So, that thought is always in the back of your mind. You hear rumors all the time and I couldn’t blame another school for wanting to be interested in him. He’s just a phenomenal coach.”
But getting to be a ‘phenomenal coach’ didn’t just happen.
“My very first scrimmage was at Wabash,” Groves said about his first full season at Triton. “We went there and we looked terrible. I came home and did not sleep a wink that night. I was tossing and turning and just thinking about what to do. I came in the next day and we just got after the kids. We talked about defense and effort and things like that. I think that was good for me. I’m a person that’s going to learn from his mistakes. That’s for sure. If I make a mistake, I’m going to correct it. If we play bad against a team, I’m going to figure out what we did wrong and correct it for the next game. That’s kind of what I did (after the scrimmage). We came out with no effort and no defense. I came back and demanded that kids play defense. That’s something you can control.”
That kind of defense was something he learned before he ever picked up a whistle.
He learned it playing for Mosson, who went 365-198 in 25 seasons, then playing for Lightfoot, who’s won 630 games and three NAIA Division II national titles at Bethel.
After playing for such successful coaches, Groves was able to merge the two into his style.
“Gordon’s more half-court, and when I was at Bethel, it was more up-and-down,” he said. “But both had their core fundamentals. You played good defense, maybe in a different way, but you had to play defense. You had to take care of the ball and have excitement and enthusiasm for what you were doing.”
Defense is the core, but when it comes to offense, Groves lets the personnel dictate his coaching style.
“It’s just about adapting to the team you have,” he said. “Two years ago (when Triton lost to Indianapolis Metropolitan at state), we were a pretty different team than what we are this year. We shot a lot of 3s. If the kids had an open look, it was going up. We had Griffyn Carpenter, Jordan Everett, Quentyn Carpenter and Clay (Yeo). It was just a different team. I’d like to think I adjusted to who we have. If we have kids that can light it up and shoot, then we’re probably going to spread you out and shoot it. With this group, we’re not the greatest shooters in the world, but we have a guy averaging 26 points (in Yeo), so we’re going to get him some touches and have some other guys do what they’re capable of doing.”
All season long, Yeo’s been the go-to guy, but it took a little time for the rest of the guys to realize their roles.
Struggling to find leadership and intensity in practice, Groves had a simple message for his guys following their 50-48 loss to LaVille in the semifinals of the TCU Bi-County Tournament in Lakeville on Jan. 18, which dropped the Trojans to 8-5 on the year.
“We had lost five games at that point, which for us, is quite a bit,” Groves said. “We kind of had a heart-to-heart and talked about those things. Luckily for us, and the seniors, they changed the way they went about their business.”
Since that loss, Triton’s reeled off 12-straight wins going into the state finals.
“All season, I kept telling the guys, ‘You have the potential to be good’, and I always thought they did,” he said. “When you have a great player like Clay, I think you always have the potential to be good, if the other guys know what they’re capable of doing and what they’re not capable of doing.”
If his guys can continue to follow his message, Groves may have a chance to win his second state title.
With as much success as he’s had, McIntyre, who served as the JV coach during Groves’ first two seasons, is enjoying the journey.
“If you would have told me we’d be doing what we’re doing now, I wouldn’t have believed it,” he said. “It’s just been a crazy ride.”[[In-content Ad]]
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