Greg Bennett- Driving the Energy Bus in Lewistown

Greg Bennett was a long time coach, teacher, and AD at Lewistown High School. I first got to know Greg because every summer he would bring his girls basketball team up to our Galesburg Summer League. Most summers, they would take the one hour drive to Galesburg two nights a week. On the entry form, there was a spot for "special requests." Some coaches would list teams they didn't want to play and times they didn't want to play. Greg never had any requests. He would play Peoria High, Springfield, or Galesburg. I could schedule them to play at 3pm or at 9pm. And that attitude carried over to his teams- “we don’t care when we play or who we play- we’re going to get after it.”

No matter the schedule, you could count on Greg Bennett driving the Lewistown activity bus into Galesburg. As I got to know Greg better, every time I saw him pull in with that little bus, I thought of the Jon Gordon book, The Energy Bus. Watching his basketball team's play it was obvious if you were on his team, you were riding the "Bennett Energy Bus." 

If you follow Greg on social media (and all but 12 people in Central Illinois are friends with Greg on Facebook), you know the guy is non-stop:

He is in Illinois football and basketball coaching HOF's. 

He describes himself as the "greatest kindergarten sub-teacher."

At one time was an active rugby player. 

Born April 17 and a White Sox fan like most successful coaches. 

Has 4500 friends on Facebook. 

Massey- Why did you decide to go into teaching and coaching? Did you have anyone who helped inspire you to go into teaching and coaching?

Bennett- Teaching and coaching were always a possibility for me, but I made a decision to go the military route. I applied for and won a full ride federal ROTC scholarship at WIU. Things were progressing nicely, until they decided that I needed an additional hearing screening. As it turns out, the deafness in my left ear caused me to lose my scholarship opportunity. The loss of my scholarship caused me to switch my focus, from hunting down and killing terrorists and commies, to terrorizing, teaching, and coaching high school students.

I was inspired to teach and coach by numerous teacher/coaches that mentored and shaped me during my formative years. The most significant included:

Warren Applen, a decorated World War II veteran and mathematical instructor, who coached me in football, basketball, and track during my grade school years. My greatest example of dedication. 

Andrew Bertram, my high school head football/track coach and social studies teacher, who probably had the greatest influence on both my career decision and coaching/teaching style. My greatest example of motivation. 

Ronald Lowery  another of my high school social studies teachers/coaches, who also happens to be my father-in-law, and, in my opinion, the greatest high school football/basketball scout in the history of the “pre-technology” era. My greatest example of organization.

Massey- Like all great coaches, you were a social studies teacher. What was your favorite lesson or unit as a teacher? 

Bennett- Social studies teachers definitely lead the way! I loved the classroom, and turned down multiple opportunities to become a full time administrative figure.  My favorite history lessons/units almost always involved some aspect of my preferred area of study,  military history. (I really loved covering topics such as Trenton, Gettysburg, Pearl Harbor, etc.) My favorite overall course to teach was Current Events.  Its daily examination and discussion of world, national, state, and local concerns was constantly evolving and always personally interesting.

Massey- You remind me of my dad, maybe it is because you are so much older than me. But the thing similar to my dad is that you always seem to take the family on “educational” or “historical” trips. What is your advice to people on a trip that you have taken that everyone should take? 

Bennett- Unfortunately, in spite of my advanced age, I never had the privilege to meet your father. If I in anyway remind you of him, he must have been a tremendous individual with exceptional character.

Due to coaching multiple sports and having athletic directing duties, my vacation time was always somewhat limited. (Usually the last week of July and first week of August = the most crowded, hottest, and miserable time of the year to travel.) I always wanted to make the most of our family travel time and we usually had “roadtrip style” vacations that involved no real relaxing, as they were crammed with as many natural wonders, historic sites, and unique tourist experiences that we could fit in to the available time frame. Family time was always precious, and I wanted my children to visit places that opened their minds and gave them an appreciation for all that America had to offer. 

I have visited so many great places, making it hard to single one out. A great selection from one of our roadtrips, that I think all Americans should experience, would be a journey to central Pennsylvania. There are plenty of things to see on the way there and back, but the two must sees are Gettysburg National Military Park (U.S. National Park Service) and the Flight 93 National Memorial https://www.nps.gov/flni/planyourvisit/basicinfo.htm . Both sites are educational, inspiring, humbling, and haunting at the same time.

Massey- You ended up at Lewistown. I am sure you had opportunities that you could have gone to “bigger schools.” What kept you at Lewistown?

Bennett- You definitely do come up with some thought provoking questions. I did have several opportunities to move on to other schools, but the “timing was never quite right.” I always liked the Lewistown community and definitely loved the classes I taught. It was also advantageous that, being a small school, I had nearly total autonomy over my curriculum and even managed to find acceptance of my somewhat boisterous, unorthodox, and “old school” teaching techniques. 

As far as the timing issue goes, it seemed that every time I was recruited to go somewhere else, there was a “good group coming up” in either football and/or girls basketball, that I didn’t want to miss out on. That aspect, combined with the level of coaching staff camaraderie, and the fact that I didn’t want to uproot my children to different schools, served to keep me in Lewistown for the last 31 years of my career.

Massey- You were long time football coach. What did you take from football that helped you as a girls basketball coach? 

Bennett- It is my belief that the vast majority of the values we coaches attempt to instill in our athletes (commitment, leadership, teamwork, respect, integrity, accountability, focus, positivity, sacrifice, work ethic, etc.) are somewhat universal to all sports. I also believe that “if you can coach, you can coach.” I have seen many successful coaches over the years, show the ability to step out of their “comfort zone” sport, into another in which they have much less familiarity, and overcome their lack of sport specific knowledge with their ability to motivate and  instill passion. (One of my favorite and most memorable coaching experiences was actually a stint as a “no wrestling experience” JV wrestling coach at Peoria Manual in the late 1980s.)

Football is definitely a sport where every position has very specific roles and responsibilities that are key to overall team success. The offensive linemen will most likely never see their names in the paper, but if they don’t protect the quarterback and block for the running back, the team is not going to win many games. The only way a football team has success, is for everyone to both understand his role and to appreciate the contributions of everyone else. Placing team success ahead individual accolades is always the key to victory.

I always tried to instill that same attitude to the basketball teams I coached. Players who were “lineman types” knew their responsibilities and understood their important roll in overall team success. Players who were “quarterback and running back types” understood their responsibilities and appreciated that they could not achieve success without the “grunt work” done by those out of the spotlight.

Massey- No offense, but based on your personality and your nature as a rugby player, how in the world did you end up as a girls basketball coach?

Bennett- I definitely never planned on coaching females. When I was first hired at Lewistown, my position included social studies, football, and boys track & field.

Shortly after the school year began, I was approached by both the Athletic Director and the Superintendent about the possibility of my becoming the assistant girls basketball coach. I, of course, initially turned them down, as I didn’t feel that my “somewhat unstable rugby player temperament” would work well with teenage girl athletes. Eventually, they were able to wear me down, and I agreed to a one year “trial run” as a girls hoops coach.

At first, I felt that I had made a terrible mistake in accepting the position, but I eventually figured out that coaching females was really not that bad. I learned that the girls could be just as tough as the boys, but that I couldn’t constantly “football scream” at them if I wanted to see positive results. As time went by, I modified my coaching techniques and I became “hooked on girls basketball,” to the degree that I spent the rest of my career in the gym with the females that I originally didn’t want to coach. (My fate was sealed by the fact that I ended up having two daughters, Morgan & Paige, that wanted to play basketball. After coaching thousands of other peoples kids over the years, how could I pass up the opportunity to coach my own?)

Massey- I once heard Coach Calhoun of UConn at a clinic say that if he went into a practice every effective coach has three things they emphasize and you will see it in their practice. You were an effective practice coach, what were your three areas of emphasis

Bennett- #1 - Never skip the fundamentals. The team with the more polished fundamentals is always more likely to win.

#2 - Focus on some aspect to improve upon every day. I have always been a proponent of the old adage that “every day you either get better or you get worse…..things never really stay the same.”

#3 - Always do something to add fun to every practice. (unconventional drills, goofy competitions, alternative conditioning, etc.) Kids need to be reminded that sports are actually supposed to be fun = if practice becomes total drudgery, the team will definitely be negatively affected.

Massey- What would you hope your former players would say about you?

Bennett- I would hope that my former players would respect my efforts to lead them, feel that I was tough but fair, believe that I was a positive influence on their lives, and consider me to have been someone who actually did care about them and had their best interests at heart. (Hopefully they also appreciate my sense of humor and understand that any verbal abuse hurled in their direction was “all in good fun.”

Massey- Besides refs, what do you miss most about coaching?

Bennett- Although this may surprise you, there are actually numerous officials that I legitimately do miss. I miss many aspects of the preparation, teaching, and daily grind of coaching, but am definitely a huge proponent of retirement.

The aspect of coaching that I miss the most, would definitely be the building of relationships. I miss the daily contact and banter with the players, my staff mates, opposing coaches, and yes, even the occasional official. The relationships established during my coaching career, particularly those fostered with my former players, were definitely special to me. The main thing that I do not miss is riding on the big yellow bus!!!! 

Massey- On Facebook and social media, you are the megastar of central Illinois. Who do you see yourself most similar to… Taylor Swift, Peyton Manning, Warren Buffet, or Angel Reese?

Bennett- In answering this question within its parameters, I would like to think that my presence on social media would be most closely akin to that of Peyton Manning. I feel that, like Peyton, am in possession of a good natured sense of humor and have a somewhat self-effacing personality.

Massey- Valerie Hackee’s daughter, Lily Furrow does swimming, basketball, and track at Galesburg. When Valerie Hackee-Furrow was an outstanding track runner at Lewistown, did you train with her in the triple jump or in the 1600? I can picture you doing the actual workouts. 

Bennett- Valerie Haacke Furrow was one of the greatest athletes in Lewistown history. She was a standout in volleyball, basketball, and Track & Field. I was never a big volleyball fan, but I know she was a standout. In basketball, she was a tremendous all-around player, although she did miss parts of two seasons with dislocated shoulder issues. She starred on the 26-3, 1998-1999 team, which fell in the regional finals in an epic rematch against a tremendous Rushville team, led by Western Michigan recruit Lori Crisman, who would later go on to become a successful professional player in Europe.

Track & Field was her most dominant sport. She capped off her career, as a senior, by leading Lewistown to a 3rd place finish at the state meet. Valerie placed 1st in the long jump, 2nd in the triple jump, and ran for 1st in both the 4x200 & 4x400 relays.

An athlete as good as Valerie didn’t need much coaching, but at a small school like Lewistown, I was somewhat involved in all phases of her event coaching. (Valerie was never really a 1600 runner, but I am certain that she would have also excelled in that event. I was actually was still playing rugby for the Peoria Pigs at the time Valerie was in school. I could have done some training with her in the 1600, as I was still running to stay in shape and actually had experience running that event from my first two years of high school track. I would have skipped the opportunity to train with her in the triple jump =  I was never quite that spry.)

Massey- If I am ever in Lewistown, where will you take me for an adult beverage and something to eat? 

Bennett- I will definitely take you to the Rocket Tap and/or VFW Post 5001. The Rocket has all-star level cheeseburgers, tenderloins, and miscellaneous lunch specials. The VFW has great beverage pricing, bargain meal deals on Tuesday nights, and very tasty Butch’s pizzas the rest of the week. (They even provide their “nearly world famous” Shit Sauce as a condiment.) You have a standing invitation to come and visit us in Fulton County at any time. 

Massey- Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions. Just reading your answers and feeling your energy- I am going to go out and in the drive and shoot some hoops!!