By Chris George,
TuckerCountySports.Com
Since January 25th of 1983 Tucker County High School Boys Basketball has had as many coaches as you can count on one hand. For the upcoming 2015-2016 boys’ basketball season, the third coach since that time will take over. Dave Helmick, a 1994 Tucker County High School alum and former standout player (Class of 1994) takes over as the brand new head coach this season. Helmick spend the last few seasons as the assistant coach on the girl’s side of things under head coach Jim Ambrose. This is not Helmick’s first stint with the boys program. Helmick served as an assistant coach under Tom Gutshall from 2001-2007.
As we fast forward to the present, Helmick is excited for his opportunity. I asked the new head coach what it means to be the head man of a program that you not only played in but have followed all your life. “It’s a Dream Job” Helmick said, “I decided to take the job knowing it was not only a dream, but I never thought I would get the opportunity to get the job.” “When the opportunity presented itself, I just had to jump on it and try to help today’s kids and players achieve their goals.” Coach Helmick knows that when you think of Tucker County athletics, the first thing that comes to mind is basketball. It is what the county thrives on and basketball is where it is with all the history and passion and hard work from the coaches down to the players.
As for the new season, one starter returns from last year’s state tournament team. Senior forward Seth Evans returns and coach Helmick expects Evans to not only be a leader on the floor but also provide a lot of offense for this team. “Seth has worked hard and always has worked in the offseason at his game”, “There is no reason why he should not be a double digit performer each game this season.” Along with Evans, several others return with varsity action. Joining Evans in the post is 6 foot 7 senior, Skyler Humphrey. The backcourt also has plenty of experience back in senior Marcus Mason and fellow guards in junior’s Ethan Crosten and Kordell Fulton. While those may be the ones returning with experience, there are several others who will be fighting for time as well. Josh Kincaid is a post player to watch coming from the junior varsity level. Other junior varsity players from a year ago who are going to add minutes are junior guard/forward Jacob Cousin as well as sophomore guards Wes Snyder, Brandon Zirk and Luke Poling. There are a pair of underclassmen who will dress varsity but will see a lot of junior varsity minutes in sophomore Jordan Moss and freshman Corrick Ambrose.
One thing coach Helmick knows and that is Defense. Since former coach Tom Gutshall took over the program in 1983, the one of many things the Mountain Lions did well was play defense. Coach Helmick alluded to this as well, “If we want to be successful and compete night in and night out, it must start on defense.” “I expect our team to be strong in the half court defensively and also we must be strong on the boards and rebound the basketball.”
Once again, the 2015-2016 schedule is challenging and that is exactly what coach Helmick wants and expects year in and year out. “In order to challenge teams like Notre Dame and many others on this schedule, we must play as a team and depend on each other and defend the entire night.” There is no doubt this Mountain Lions team can score points but I believe coach Helmick is correct. Defense is all about effort and that can and should be expected every night, because on offense, there will be nights when shots won’t fall, it happens but believing in each other and defending is something this team should do. The Mt. Lions will scrimmage Buckhannon-Upshur tonight @ 6pm at home and then they will scrimmage at Keyser on Friday December 4th at 6pm. Tucker County will open the season at Pocahontas County on Wednesday, December 9th and then they will travel to Southern, MD on Friday, December 11th.
Not many programs can say they have had only three head coaches in 32 years. That is what makes this program such a treat to watch and broadcast. I personally enjoy the brand known as Tucker County High School boys’ basketball as much as any brand out there. With Dave Helmick at the controls, the beat will continue as it did under former coaches Tom Gutshall and Dave Kyle. Follow the Mt. Lions this season as many games will be broadcast live on 94.7FM(WELK) and also on TuckerCountySports.Com.
