Basketball geek named OBA’s male coach of the year
The winner of the Ontario Basketball Association’s male coach of the year award is a basketball lifer.
“I have always done it (coached) and the reason I have always done it is because basketball has provided me with every experience, every opportunity and almost every relationship that I have had,” Mike Hurley said.
The Pelham Panthers executive member and coach is a baller through and through.
“I know nothing but basketball and I am a true basketball geek,” the 44-year-old Fonthill resident said. “That’s not a bad thing. That is just the way it is and I don’t know anything different.
“It’s my hobby, my passion, my love and it’s everything.”
Basketball has given the former Niagara College and Brock University player the opportunity to travel all over the world. He met his wife Andrea, the registrar for Pelham basketball, on the basketball court when they attended Niagara College.
“The two of us coach together and my kids love basketball,” he said.
The Pelham Panthers’ technical director guided Pelham’s under-15 boys to a third overall finish in Ontario and a Pelham under-14 girls team to a fifth overall result in the province.
“They both had fantastic years,” Hurley said.
Hurley’s 15-year-old son, T.J., played on the boys team, and his 13-year-old daughter, Sarah, suited up for the girls squad.
The time commitment involved for practices was about 12 hours a week, not counting tournaments and OBLX league play.
Hurley’s coaching philosophy has remained the same at every level.
“Coaching collegiately and at the grassroots level, I have found that it has to be based on pillars that stem from human nature: trust, honesty, hard work and respect,” he said. “If you don’t have that, then you don’t get a good return in your relationship.
“That is just Life 101.”
The facilities coordinator at Niagara College coached that school’s men’s basketball team for 12 years and has been coaching in the Pelham Panthers organization for more than a decade. He started when he was still in high school and coached when he was playing at Niagara College. He returned to the program to coach his kids.
“One of the biggest things is how much I put into the kids and how much time and effort I put into relationship building with so many kids,” the E.L. Crossley alumnus said. “They work their butts off in return.”
Hurley walks a tightrope between winning and development, players’ expectations and parents’ expectations.
“That one is tricky and I have stuck to my guns and got in trouble with it in that it’s always development first,” he said. “We’ve been able to win at a lot of levels which covers off on both, but I have never strayed away from the development side in the process. My whole roster plays a lot.”
He likes having 10 happy players at the end of the season.
“You don’t have that sense where the team has had a great year but a kid doesn’t feel like a part of it.”
In his time as coach, Hurley has noticed a difference between coaching girls and boys. Girls are process driven and like a step by step development while boys want to skip most of the steps and just play ball. Surprisingly, Hurley’s kids are the opposite of that.
He agrees it is difficult to coach one’s own kids.
“It is hard mostly for them,” he said. “I treat them the same on the basketball court as one of 10 players, but my son and daughter get it quicker from me. They get the discipline side of it quicker and I am tougher on them.”
Hurley loves how the popularity of basketball is exploding in Canada.
“The interest level and engagement level is through the roof,” he said. “It is mind boggling how fast our club is growing year round.”
The Panthers have more than 500 kids registered in its summer program. The day after the Toronto Raptors’ Kawhi Leonard sank a buzzer beater to defeat Philadelphia, Pelham basketball had 10 phone calls and emails from parents whose kids wanted to play basketball.
“A guy hits a shot and we get all these phone calls,” Hurley said, with a smile.
He is proud to be named Basketball Ontario’s coach of the year.
“I am super honoured and humbled,” he said. “I got nominated by both my teams so that was great.”
Especially humbling for Hurley was the realization how many other coaches were up for the award and the calibre of the coaches who were also nominated.
Below is the nomination letter sent to Basketball Ontario on Hurley’s behalf.
“Coach Mike is the most dedicated coach I’ve ever met. Not only does Mike give his time to two teams with successful seasons in OBLX, he contributes to the Pelham Panthers community through skills sessions at house league, his annual summer shooting school and countless other camps and clinics that help players of all skill levels improve for nothing more than to share his love of basketball.
“Mike is always available on and off the court and it’s easy to see how much he cares about all the athletes who come through his gym. Mike’s name is synonymous with basketball in Pelham and you’d be hard pressed to find someone in the area that wouldn’t thank him for helping them on it off the court. As someone who is a better coach thanks to learning from coach Mike, it is my honour to nominate him for coach of the year.”
