By Lee Davis
After a fine basketball career at the University of Alabama, Andrew Steele thought his future plans were well set.
He was wrong.
After graduating from the Capstone in 2013, Steele worked in marketing and as an assistant to John Carroll Catholic basketball coach Larry Harbin. Steele certainly knew his way around John Carroll, having earned all-state honors as a forward at the school in 2007-2008. His plans for the new season involved returning to Tuscaloosa to work as a graduate assistant under Crimson Tide coach Anthony Grant.
All that changed in late February when Harbin announced his resignation. Steele applied for the then-vacant head coaching position at his high school alma mater. Then on May 2, Carroll officials announced that Steele was the Cavaliers’ new head basketball coach.
“It’s all been kind of a whirlwind,” said Steele when contacted last week. “I’m very excited, and there’s so much to do. I’ve been really busy.”
One of the things keeping him busy is a different sport: football. In addition to coaching basketball, Steele–who played quarterback at John Carroll–is also an assistant football coach. But with basketball tryouts going on at the school this week, Steele’s full attention will be on the sport he loves the most. The accent will be on youth, as John Carroll lost nine seniors from last season’s squad that finished 10-16.
“We’re going to be very young, so what we lack in experience we’re going to have to make up for with hard work and good attitude,” Steele said. “But our guys seem hungry to start winning again.”
The new coach isn’t afraid to set the expectation bar high in his first season.
“We are going into every season with the goal of competing and winning the state championship,” Steele said. “When the bar is set high, then even if a team falls short, it’s accomplished a lot.”
Steele used an example in his own career at John Carroll to make his point.
“In my sophomore year, we went 29-3 and lost in the regionals, so it was a disappointing season,” he said. “When you win 25-30 games a year, and you’re disappointed, it means you’ve got a very good program.”
Steele, who turns 24 this week, also promises to put an exciting product on the court for the John Carroll students, fans and alumni.
“If I could sum it up in one phrase, we’re going to be aggressive in everything we do,” he said. “We’re going to try to play as fast as we can. We’re not going to have great height, but we should have good speed and quickness. On defense, we’re going to be pressing all the time unless we are far ahead late in a game. On offense, we are going to run at a pace that helps us win. Just running up and down the court is no good if you’re not winning.”
Steele said one of his top priorities will be teaching a strong work ethic to his younger charges.
“My job is to get our kids to understand that often they will have to do things they don’t want to do in order to get the results they want,” he said. “When I was playing at Alabama, Coach Grant said many times that everyone wants to win, but it’s the people who are willing to prepare to win who are the most successful. We want everyone who is part of our program–including the coaches, the players, the parents, the fans and the John Carroll community at large–to buy into that concept.”
Despite the emphasis on hard work, Steele also wants his team to enjoy the game.
“I want our kids to have fun playing basketball,” he said. “And basketball is a lot more fun when you are winning.”
While Steele’s hiring has generated a lot of excitement among John Carroll alumni, there is little doubt that the most excited alum might be a member of the new coach’s own family.
Steele’s older brother Ronald, who led the Cavaliers to two consecutive state championships a decade ago before starring at Alabama, can hardly wait to help his sibling rebuild John Carroll’s basketball tradition.
“Ronald’s playing pro ball in Italy, and he wants to get involved any way he can,” Steele said. “He’ll be home this summer, and he wants to work with our kids. For them to be around a guy like Ronald–who has been successful at the high school, college and professional level–is going to be a very good thing.”
Steele hopes to use other representatives of John Carroll’s glorious past to rebuild its present and future.
“We’re very blessed to have resources here that a lot of schools don’t have,” he said. “To be the basketball coach at my school, with the Christian values that it stands for, makes this a special time for me.”
For the moment, the Cavaliers’ best resource is Andrew Steele.
Grand for Davis…
While Andrew Steele’s hiring certainly created a splash, so did the surprising retirement of Hoover baseball coach Rick Davis after 20 successful years at the helm.
Davis said the decision to step down was his alone.
“I just felt like it was time to go,” he said when contacted last week. “After 20 years, I’m ready to do something different. I have to admit that it’s numbing to know that I won’t be coaching baseball here next year.”
For the time being, Davis plans to remain at Hoover and work with the football program.
Davis leaves the Buccaneer baseball program in excellent shape. Hoover finished 39-15-1 with a region title in 2014. Davis led the Bucs to the Class 6A state championship in 2008, the school’s first title in baseball since 1981.
“I’m grateful for the support we’ve had from the administration and parents,” Davis said. “Getting our own booster club in 2000 was a big deal. We were able to do a lot of capital improvements and things that we needed.”
Davis didn’t’ speculate as to the identity of his successor at Hoover
“I’m sure they’ll get a good coach who will have probably have some fresh ideas,” he said. “He’ll have the structure here to do very well.”
While not coaching baseball will certainly be a lifestyle change, Davis said he’ll be spending a lot of time around the game.
“I’ve got three sons that play,” he said. “That means I’ll be spending a lot of time at ballparks.”
