Spring is in the air at Hahnville.
Though the calendar currently reads “July,” that statement still rings true because former Slidell head basketball coach Rick Spring now guides the Tigers’ hoops program, bringing with him a list of impressive credentials and an relentless up-tempo style that so far seems to mesh well with players: Hahnville went 9-1 over a series of 10 summer scrimmages.
Just as his players seem to be buying into Spring, he is buying into Hahnville — its players, administration and the community as a whole.
“I think everything is in place,” Spring said. “I feel really good about the guys we have here and everyone in this community has really welcomed me with open arms and given us their full support. I was told before I made the decision to come here that these were great kids who I’d love working with, that this was a great place to be, and that assessment has been completely on point.”
That assessment came from former Hahnville assistant coach Raymond Winzy, who coached under HHS head coach Marcell Fisher last season. Winzy spent time as an assistant on Spring’s staff at Slidell and was recently hired as Slidell’s new girls head basketball coach.
“Each time we talked, he spoke of how much he really enjoyed it here,” Spring said. “And that really sunk in after awhile. When I heard about the opening, he gave it two thumbs-up again.”
Spring also was very familiar with Hahnville athletic director Brian Lumar, counting the former HHS head basketball coach among his friends.
When Fisher and Hahnville parted ways following last season, Lumar was in the position of having to make another coaching change. After Lumar stepped down from the position to focus on duties as athletic director, Hahnville has seen three coaches come and go. The Tigers have had four different head coaches in the past four years.
“I’ve always had a lot of respect for Brian and I knew he was here,” Spring said. “When (Winsy) told me they were making a change, I reached out to (Lumar) and we talked about it. He said he thought I could plug the gap here (on a long term basis).”
Spring, 51, spent six years as Slidell head coach, beginning in 2002. He put together a won-loss record of 142-49 and led the team to three district championships and as far as the Class 5A state quarterfinals.
He left Slidell in March 2008 but stayed on the Northshore, eventually joining Jay Carlin’s coaching staff at Salmen in 2012. He also coached Salmen’s freshman team, which went 62-8 in three years under spring.
Last season, the Salmen varsity narrowly fell short of earning the Class 4A state championship, falling 37-35 to Landry-Walker in the 4A title game.
Lumar led Hahnville to the Class 5A championship game in 2009, where the Tigers fell to Ouachita. Since then, Hahnville has reached the postseason three times, falling in the first round each of those seasons.
Spring is aware that Hahnville basketball hasn’t drawn the same notoriety as its football, baseball and softball programs in recent years, but he thinks that can change.
“If I hadn’t had anybody on the inside here, giving me a heads up, I would have maybe thought this was a nice place but ultimately not given it too much thought. But coach Winsy told me how good these kids were and how talented they were. Coach Lumar assured me everything we need to be successful is right here. I’ve spent the past 25 to 30 years in Slidell and I know they wouldn’t put themselves out there like that if it wasn’t real.”
Lumar said Spring’s knowledge of the area and enthusiasm about the position impressed him.
“He’s shown to be very invested in the program, already,” Lumar said. “He seems to want this to be his last stop. He’s very passionate about coaching, very passionate about St. Charles Parish … he knew a lot about our district and our program’s history. He did a good job researching things and showing he was adamant about taking this program to the next level, not just athletically, but also academically.”
When the players get on the floor later this year, fans can likely expect a frenzied pace. Spring believes in pushing the ball quickly and making decisive reads. Over Hahnville’s 10 summer games—which he said each encompassed about two-thirds of the time to play a regular season game — the team scored at least 70 points eight times.
“He’s definitely fast-paced,” Lumar said. “We’ve had our wars on opposing sidelines. What stood out to me was that his teams were always very well-coached. His kids played with a ton of energy and they all seemed to really enjoy playing for him.”
Spring’s system aims to push the pace to the furthest extreme, many elements reminiscent of Paul Westhead’s fast-break heavy Loyola Marymount system in the early 1990s. If a defense relaxes for even a second, Spring’s Slidell teams aimed to exploit the cracks left open immediately, from the inbounds pass on.
“We’ve definitely got a set of benchmarks we aim to hit, a formula we have,” Spring said. “It’s all about tempo. In order to do what we like to do, we’ve got to have numbers. The great thing is, we have some crazy numbers this year. We’ve had games where we’ve dressed 17 or 18 kids (this summer). We’re not very big at all, but we have several guys who can (run point) and we have guys who can shoot from distance.”
He said that while his philosophy is to push pace, he recognizes the need to be able to win in multiple ways.
(At Slidell), depending on the opponent and situation on a given night, we had games we won that might have been 120-117, and we had more grind it out wins, 55-50 type contests,” he said.
Spring said he values his scorers having a short memory—getting on to the next shot versus mentally lingering on a miss—and guards who make smart decisions and quick, accurate reads of the defense.
“We’ve been keeping it simple so far, getting everyone’s feet wet,” Spring said. “I’m really excited because we’re way ahead of where I thought we’d be at this point. Our kids are buying in and I couldn’t be more pleased.”
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