Over the past fifty years, if you went to any basketball clinic in the Midwest, you would find Bob Anderson sitting in the front row, arriving early and leaving late.
My last year coaching, I asked Bob if he would watch some films of my team and of our opponents. He volunteered hours watching and analyzing for me. He was honest when he analyzed my team. He was detailed when he analyzed future opponents. He would either send me handwritten analysis, or call. Our phone conversations usually ran 30-60 minutes.
When I through ideas off Bob, he would come back with one of two responses-
1- “I really like that idea.”
2- “I suppose that is one way you could do things.”
Bob knows more about basketball than anyone I know. He once spent fifteen minutes explaining to me the most effective way to teach players to purposely miss a free throw at the end of the game. I am convinced there is not a basketball situation that he has not already studied.
I have some of Coach Anderson’s former players and assistant coaches, as well as an opposing coach to share
I think teaching the kids accountability and work ethic are 2 of the things that make him successful as well as loving the process of the season, the highs and the lows. From an outsider looking in it’s hard not to say his love for the game because it truly was his life. I believe ultimately teaching young kids about lessons in life through basketball was his greatest ability and where he found his most success.
The impact Coach Anderson had on me. I think we take for granted his knowledge of the game as well as how good of a teacher he was. I have went into coaching because I also love the game and I’m not sure if I would be coaching if it wouldn’t be for him. I would also like to attribute some character building. Before I played for Coach I was lazy and frankly didn’t want to play defense and you can guess how that went over with him. After being through his program I know the value of a work ethic and am proud of it. I also know taking criticism isnt someone tearing you down, they want to bring out the best in you. So many lessons, so much running (lol) but it was all worth it, thank you Coach Anderson.
I coached against Bobby Anderson from 1981 until 2010. We were both in the ICAC Conference during my 7 Years at Brimfield, my first head coaching spot 1987-1994. We had great battles during that time and I learned a lot from him. In fact my first Class A Regional as an assistant in Princeville was in Williamsfield and Bobby's squad beat Dunlap in the final. It was Bobby and Chuck Rolinski that really influenced me to stay in Princeville and continue coaching in a small school. Their passion and competitiveness told me that Class A basketball was a great atmosphere, and I don't regret my decision to stay here for my career.
Coach A's teams were always well prepared. When ever I would go to scout he was there also if he didn't have a game. He was never in a holiday tournament so he would spend that time in the Princeville Gym because most all eight of the teams in the tourney were his opponents. His teams were very fundamentally sound and played very hard and smart. One summer I asked to see his game plan sheet and on the top in big letters said SHOT FAKE! For a school of 75 kids it was amazing the squads he put together. He was always willing to help with common opponents, talk strategy and just talk about the game. He is still that way. He was just over to my house a month ago to watch the Friday night games in the first round of March madness.
I admired his passion for the game. He never stopped learning and I attended several clinics with him. He would go to every session. I remember one year I went to St. Louis with him and was going to skip a talk by Sylvia Hatchell...he said "I'm going to get a play from her and beat your ass with it. I'll call it Sylvia."
1978-81 player
1987-2021 taught with Coach Anderson. We nearly talked basketball every day
Much of his success came from game preparation through scouting and game situations in practice specific to opposing teams. Would hate to guess how many games he/we scouted. Conditioning was always high on the process also.
Playing hard and working hard were also stressed. “First to the floor”
Playing for him and enjoying the game I’m sure headed me into coaching and teaching.
Fortunately being able to come back and work with him was a plus. Definitely one of my great friends.
More memories than I can probably remember. But the 2 year run from 95-6 and 96-7 teams ending up at state definitely one. I was also fortunate to be on the floor for his first game and in the stands for his last.
Jeff Parsons- Played for Coach Anderson, later Coached at Roseville and Wethersfield
I played for Coach Anderson from 1981 to 1985. I started my coaching career in 1991, and we started to form our relationship/friendship as colleagues.
Coach had a high expectation of excellence. He had a certain way he wanted the game to be played. Maximum effort at all times, the little things added up to big things in tight game situations. Fundamentals were huge with him. Hustle plays were the key. Taking charges, first to the floor for a loose ball. We did a ton of aggressive drills in practice. He felt that if you were more aggressive than your opponent every night, you could be successful. His preparation was second to none. He knew more about our opponents than their own coach did most of the time. He knew how to break each team down and what we needed to do to be successful to win. He got that across to his players and they executed.
Any time we were not giving our best in practice he would stop whatever we were doing and say, On the Line or Last Man. We did sprints, always for time. If we did not make it, we ran until everyone made the time. If he called Last man, you would stop what you were doing and he would point to a spot on the floor and the last man would have a sprint down and back. In practice, he had a very high standard. You will play like you practice. Everything was done 100% at all times. Charges were taken, diving on the floor for loose balls. He would do physical guarding and offensive drills in practice so you were used to it in a game if the game got physical. He had 3 X 5 note cards he used in practice as practice plans. Every minute was spoken for during his practices. We wore ties on game days to school and to the game. He felt like if you looked professional, you would play better.
What impact did he have on you?
This is endless. I would not have never been a coach without him. I would have never had success coaching without his mentorship. I would've definitely never ever been inducted into the IBCA Hall of Fame without his guidance and help along the way. More importantly he taught me how to be a better person through success and adversity. His high standard of excellence has resonated with me throughout my career as a teacher, coach and now administrator.
Any favorite practice or game memories?
The 1985 Regional Championship game. The game was at WIlliamsfield. We defeated ROVA (No Wataga at that time) 48-47. There were 5 teams with over 20 wins in the regional and we were the 3rd seed. Another magnificent coaching job by Coach Anderson. Standing room only, the gym seated 2200. The crowd carried the players off the floor in celebration.
The 1997 Super-Sectional game, I was a fan. Williamsfield vs State ranked Rock Island Alleman at Wharton FIeld house. Alleman had got 3rd in state the year before and had almost their whole team back. Only one coach could have pulled off the upset and he was sitting on the Williamfield Bench, Coach Anderson.
Practices were always super competitive and we always had Hustle stamped across the back of our practice basketball shorts.
Garrett Wight- Williamsfield Player
I played from 2012 through 2016. I was a Junior for the final season as a Billtown Bomber and was a Senior for the first year of the ROWVA-Williamsfield Co-op
Coach A was committed to the game of basketball and his love and passion for the game were his greatest keys to success. He was always a student of the game and brought his learnings to the team through the drills, coaching, and preparation that we did. I don't know how he was early in his coaching career but I could always sense the care he had for each of his players. Passion and caring goes a long way.
One of the policies that I remember the most was that you had to make every practice to be on the starting roster for the next game. I was a busy kid in high school doing multiple activities so I occasionally had to miss parts or all of practice but he would keep his word. I thought it was a silly rule back in the day but have grown to appreciate it as a mentor on a high school robotics team. It sends a simple message: show up and do the work and you can reap the benefits of starting the next game. It also preached consistency across dealing with all of his players.
Conditioning was also a staple of his off-season and in season preparation. It was essential to the game strategy he coached and I absolutely loved it. Play relentlessly fast and wear down the other team.
He had an incredible impact on me as a player and as a person. He gave structure to my fierce competitiveness and allowed my skills to flourish on and off the court. He is by far the first coach to come to mind when someone mentions "coach" to me. He taught me that a great work ethic and a well thought out plan can go out and compete against the best of the best.
Coach A and I had a very special bond but we occasionally butted heads. I didn't always agree with his tactics/planning and I let him know about that occasionally. It is an important lesson to learn that you aren't always right but you must work with your team to accomplish the goal.
Winning the regional championship against Ridgewood my Junior year in our last season as Billtown Bombers has to take the #1 spot in the memory department. He challenged our rag tag team so much that year and we grew into a very tight knit group. The gym atmosphere is something that still gives me chills to this day.
Another fun memory was when my older brother Parker accidentally ran him over doing a defensive sliding drill. He was in the wrong spot at the wrong time and Parker turned the corner and just obliterated him. He was cool about it but holy cow was it hard not to laugh.
Jacob Secrist- Williamsfield Player and Assistant Coach
I played for Coach Anderson Freshman-Senior year, 1998-2002, was Assistant Coach for Coach Anderson 2006-2009.
Coach had/has a wonderful feel for the game and is not afraid to make changes
depending on that night’s game. However, the thing that made him most successful was his preparation. I played well over 100 games for him and coached with him for almost 100, and not once did I ever feel like we weren’t prepared. It didn’t matter what team we were playing, whether it was Farmington for a regional championship or some weak school that hadn’t won 5 games in two years, we went in prepared for that game.
There are two things that I really appreciated about game/practice routines. First, we were required to wear a dress shirt and tie to all games, home or away. I think that somehow, dressing somewhat professionally made us more ready to play. (Also, who knows how many young men learned to tie a tie because of Coach’s rule)
Second, I just appreciate how prepared and regimented everything was. Practices were planned out to the second and they were followed to a “t” unless, of course, we were absolute garbage, then the plans might alter a bit, but that was very rare.
Coach has had and still has a huge impact on my life. He taught me lessons that I didn’t appreciate at the time, but now as an adult I realize how important they were. He led by example. He showed how to be a professional, how to take your craft seriously. He showed that you can win 500-600-700 games (not sure what his total was) but that most important game is the next one, so you better be prepared for it.
How many coaches have a gym named after them, but still attend as many coaching clinics as they can…not as speakers, but as attendees? He used to say all the time “if you are through learning, you are through” and that holds true no
matter what industry, business, craft you are in. I can say this with all honesty and sincerity, he may not know (or care) what the Dow Jones is doing today or how to share a post on Facebook, but if everyone took their job as seriously and did it with as much care and diligence as he did his job, we would have very few problems in society.
One side story as to how Coach still impacts my life and I hope he doesn’t mind that I tell it. My dad died a month before my son turned one. So, we have a birthday party for my son and Coach A comes to it. (He’s married to my Aunt, so he was forced to come is probably a better way to put it, lol)
Coach, my old point guard (who should have gotten me the ball more) and best
friend Kyle Gibbs and I were standing there chatting. Well, the conversation naturally turns to how I am doing since dad passed since it was so close. I share that I am doing well, it’s just strange not having him around.
Then Coach says something I will never forget. He says,
“Well, something that helped me when my dad died is I just try to say to myself,
‘is what I am doing now would make him proud?’” Even as a then almost forty year old man, Coach was simplifying the game for me. Boil it down and make your dad proud of what you are doing, and the rest is easy.
I have a lot of funny not suitable for print stories that are better left for our group chats that we former players get fired up from time to time, but I am going to keep those private. Some things deserve the honor of staying within the fraternity.
I have two favorite memories, and they span the emotions of what makes basketball the great sport that it is. First memory is joy. We are playing Galva my junior year (2001) and they were pretty good that year. Had a lot of good parts, lot of athletes and had a good coach with Brad Hulick. They knew they were good and they knew they had to beat us to win the old Turkey Tournament in Billtown.
Junior year, we had no seniors, but four of us had a ton of experience from the year before when we won 20 games (I still have no idea how we did that, since most nights we started four of us Sophomores) so expectations weren’t real high since we were still young, but they weren’t real low, either. So we are back and forth all game. Final seconds of the fourth quarter and I foul out after being wrongly accused of five fouls. I still have never committed an actual foul since my footwork was impeccable, but I digress.
Down two with about 8 seconds left at the far end of the court. Coach calls timeout. He calls for a play that we had practiced one thousand times (he never had to draw up a play, he had a play for every scenario and it was not suggested, but
required that every player know every play) So, clock winding down and David Ingle drills a three as the buzzer sounds. Now, by this time Coach had won a few regionals, had coached in the state tournament and coached the best Super Sectional game I have ever seen when we beat Alleman. Ball goes through and Coach celebrates like we just beat the Bulls in game 7. The joy! All the prep work that went in to winning our fifth game of our junior year and he couldn’t have been happier….remember what I said about the most important game being the
next one…well, it’s actually the one you are in right now, but then the next one.
At that moment, he was totally in the moment and totally joyous, not only for himself, but for our team.
Second memory is pain. 2002, senior year and we have a good squad. 29-3 entering the regional championship against Farmington. This is when Farmington was on that run where they were tougher than hell every year. Anyhow, they get out to an early lead that we couldn’t overcome. Tried our best, just couldn’t dig out from under it. Finish the year 29-4. Last game of competitive basketball I ever played. Last game I ever got to play with my four classmates, Beau Johnson, Kyle Gibbs, Mike Bantz and David Ingle. The five of us, with a few people popping in and out, had played together since third grade. Won a lot of games and formed a bond that still carries through to this day. Also, the last game I got to play with my brother, Gabe, who was just a year younger than me. Which really ruined my odds of ever getting an offensive rebound again. Gabe was a “volume shooter” before we had a term for it.
Anyhow, back to the story. To say that loss was devastating to an 18 year-old is putting it mildly. Somehow, Coach and I gravitate towards each other, and with tears in our eyes, we walk to the locker room with our arms around each other. We didn’t always see eye to eye, but in that moment, the love and respect we shared for what each had given to the other and to the team was all around. So, even though the loss was heart-breaking, we went through it together, just like we had went through all the wins, losses, practices, conditioning, open gyms, bus rides, etc…together.
So, the first memory is great, but the second memory is one I carry with me. It reminds me to be appreciative of those that take the time to help you. It also reverts back to something else Coach used to say.
“How do you handle yourself when things go wrong?” He showed me how towalk off the court, head held high even if there are tears in your eyes, knowing even if you
came up short but did the best you can, that’s a good game, a good day and a good life
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