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New MHS coach ready to get started

Sports editor

Jeff McMillin grew up in Conway Springs.

He played every sport imaginable in his backyard, and continued through the days leading up to Conway Springs High School.

That is until he said “he didn’t stop growing” and began focusing on basketball.

Eight years after graduating from CSHS, and in-between trips to Arkansas City, Wichita, and Pratt, he now finds himself in Marion coaching the Marion High School boys’ basketball team.

“It’s very similar,” McMillin said of Marion compared to his hometown. “The kids remind me of the hardworking ones in Conway Springs.”

McMillin, his wife Amanda, 4-year-old daughter Jaeden, and 1-year-old son Landon, moved to the area this summer when McMillin decided to step down after three years as Pratt High School head basketball coach.

“We tried western Kansas but wanted to move back,” the first-year coach said. “We both have a lot of family (near) Wichita.”

Now just an hour from family, the McMillins are ready to settle in to their Marion lifestyle.

Tip-off

When the whistle blows to signal the start of McMillin’s first MHS basketball game, it also will be the first game in the new gymnasium located in the USD 408 Sports and Aquatics Center.

The new facility was completed this summer, and will play host to the first Marion Classic Dec. 8-13.

The Warriors play another Marion County Warrior team – Peabody-Burns – in the opening round.

McMillin said the new facility helped him with his choice to come to Marion.

“It was a huge factor,” he said. “Not just the bricks and the mortar, but the fact the community was willing to support it. I got a good sense of the support that is going to be given by the fans.”

Of course, the facility itself had something to do with it.

“It’s nice. Hopefully we can have a home-court advantage there,” McMillin said.

With just one road game before Jan. 16, McMillin and the Warriors should feel right at home.

Even now, less than two weeks into practice, McMillin already does.

“(The players) have done everything I’ve asked them to do,” he said. “I’m excited about that.”

He’s also ready for the classic, which will be an eight-team, bracket-style tournament.

“It’s a competitive tournament. That adds to the excitement,” McMillin said.

Finding a home

This is McMillin’s second head coaching job, with playing stints at Cowley County and Friends University before that, so it’s safe to say this is not his first rodeo.

However, there could be some pressure with the Warriors playing in a new facility and a town itching for some basketball success.

It has been a tough transition into a competitive Mid-Central Activities Association the past four seasons for MHS, but McMillin is ready for the challenge — and the pressure.”

“It’s a good barometer of how good you are,” McMillin said of the MCAA. “The top teams in the league are some of the top teams in the state.”

One of those teams, Hillsboro, provides an annual Marion County rivalry match-up.

McMillin doesn’t know much about the rivalry, but said he got a taste during the football season.

“I know it’s intense, and I’m excited to be a part of that,” he said. “I think it’s a good thing.”

For now, however, McMillin isn’t thinking about how to beat Hillsboro, or any other team. Instead, he’s focusing on making the Warriors the best they can be.

“We just have to keep growing,” he said. “We have to have patience, but we will be competitive along the way.”

With the first basketball game less than two weeks away, McMillin said his staff and 25 guys will be ready to go.

Part of that reason is because everyone in town has made Marion feel like Conway Springs for McMillin and his family.

“The community has been great,” he sai

Last modified Nov. 26, 2008

 

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