BACK ON THE BENCH

Bill Niven has coached high school basketball for 42 years.

Along the way, Niven won a boys state championship at Hope, turned around a struggling Rogers High program in the 1990s, coached the Razorbacks of Texarkana High and took Green Forest’s boys to the state tournament for the first time in 15 seasons in 2008.

But earlier this month, Niven heard a question from a player for the first time.

“Coach, do you have any hair braids,” came from a player before a recent game.

Welcome to girls high school basketball.

After four decades of coaching boys basketball, Niven is encountering a lot of firsts this basketball season.

Not quite two years ago, Niven, 65, decided to call it a career. Niven, and his wife Judy, had a nice little spread near Green Forest that was an hour’s drive from his children and grandchildren.

Niven had coach the Green Forest boys for six seasons and put down even more roots when he was elected to the Green Forest City Council. He also did some substitute teaching as a way to stay involved with young people.

“I stayed involved with kids because that is what it is all about for me,” Niven said.

Life was good.

But that more limited involvement changed this past spring.

And it started with a few phone calls.

Short Retirement

Over the span of a few weeks, Niven started receiving calls from former players. Those calls came from his former junior high players at North Little and former high school players Hope and Rogers.

“In a span of about two months, I got calls,” Niven said. “They wanted to know where I was at, what was going on. I’m sitting out there on my porch thinking, ‘Lord, am I going to die, or do you want me to get back into coaching.’ So, I said coaching, and I have to have a job”

Niven quickly started his coaching search and a job at Decatur popped up on his computer screen. The posting didn’t specify a sport but Niven called anyway.

“It didn’t say anything, but I knew the superintendent, Larry Ben,” Niven said. “We had coached football together at Rogers. I called him and Larry said, ‘Bill, I was just thinking about you. I’ve got a girls basketball team that really needs some help and I need somebody that is going to stay awhile.’”

What Ben really meant is that taking the Decatur job is going to be a challenge. But turning struggling programs into winners is what Niven had done for his entire career and going to Decatur is yet another of those challenges.

Niven said the support of his wife, Judy, and his children, Amy and Aaron, has helped in the transition. Aaron Niven is an assistant men’s basketball coach at John Brown University.

“Judy has been an unbelievable coach’s wife,” Niven said. “Judy has always been, “Where ever you want to go, that is where I want to be.’ But we felt strong that this is what we are supposed to do. Amy and Aaron said, ‘That’s great, we were wondering why you retired in the first place.’ So, we did it one more time.”

New Challenge

Niven doesn’t know his record as a boys coach but his win total is well north of 500 games. But none of his past successes were discussed in his first meeting with his new players.

“At first they probably thought, what are we doing hiring somebody that is retired, an old man,” Niven said. “I think they just wanted someone to come in and stay with them for awhile. I’ve got to teach them how to play because they have been short changed the last few years. This is by far the biggest challenge. This is not going to be a sprint, it’s going to be a marathon.”

Decatur has already exceeded last year’s win total (2) and Niven said he sees progress everyday. Last year, the Decatur losses saw the Lady Bulldogs give up 60, 70 points a game. Now the opponents are scoring in the 40s and 50s. Being able to have an offseason program this spring and summer will help in that progression, Niven said.

Decatur’s roster (12) is twice as big as last year’s team and there are 18 girls on the junior high roster.

“I will say this about the kids,” Niven said. “Defensively, they are playing pretty well. But defense is always easier than the offensive side of it. It’s just going to take some time. I had one of them tell me the other day, ‘Coach, we are glad that you are here.’ That makes it worth it. They have responded real well.

“We are going in the right direction.”

Other coaches have seen the improvement, too.

Hackett defeated the Lady Bulldogs 43-11 earlier this month but Lady Hornets coach Claude Foster saw a difference in Decatur before the game even started. Foster said he was in a similar situation 13 years ago when he started at Hackett, where the junior high team lost 38 straight games before the program began to turn around.

“You can tell that Coach Niven has been working on the fundamentals,” Foster said. “It’s going to take him awhile. Coach Niven is doing the same things that I did, work on defense and concentrate on the fundamentals. I could tell that by his pregame workouts. He was doing defensive shuffles and shooting close around the basket.

“Those girls played hard. I could tell that somebody had been working with them.”

Niven is committed to taking Decatur to the next level and said he feels like he has a lot of good coaching years ahead of him.

“This is the last one,” Niven said.

But the veteran coach has used the words before.

“I have,” Niven said.

If the past is any indication, Decatur will be at the next level sooner rather than later.