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New Northwest basketball coach says success is on the way

 

By Mike Moore

Staff Writer

 

Jackson — He vowed to make a difference, to take a struggling culture and turn it into a success story.

 

Certainly not overnight, or in a one-year span, but with a bit of patience and plenty of hard work, John Moffitt said the Northwest boys basketball program will find itself on competitive footing before long.

 

Now the journey begins for the first-year Mounties coach.

 

“I’m very happy to be here,” Moffitt said Monday night, a few days after he was officially named head coach of the boys varsity team. “I’ve taught in this district and been around basketball in this area forever. To me, there’s so many great things going on at Northwest, and having the chance to teach and coach in this district together puts me in a position to be effective with these kids.”

 

Moffitt’s no stranger to the game, the Jackson area, or Northwest, for that matter.

 

Moffitt starred at Litchfield until graduating in 1994, then played at Spring Arbor University until 1999.

 

His coaching career began shortly after that.

 

He coached varsity girls at Parma Western for five years, coached junior varsity boys and assisted with the varsity team at Western as well for another two.

 

The past two winters he’s been head coach of the eighth-grade boys team at Kidder Middle School.

 

“I’ve been in this area and part of this game for a long, long time,” Moffitt said. He’s taught physical education for 16 years in the Northwest district as well.

 

But this (rebuilding) project may be the toughest he’s had to endure and accept as a head coach.

 

Northwest is coming off a 4-16 season, and aside from last year’s 13-8 finish, averaged roughly five wins per winter dating back to 2005.

 

“Build relationships and build this program,” Moffitt said when asked how he plans to begin the long-overdue transformation. “We’re going to focus on the character things first, and if we take care of that, the success is going to come.”

 

The main thing, he added, was finding ways to reach the kids and get them to buy into the system.

 

“And that can’t start at the varsity level,” Moffitt said. “We have to work with the younger kids, the feeder schools, the coaches at the younger levels. … I think that’s something hard to accept for people, that you can’t change all this overnight. It goes back to putting in the work, putting in that all-out effort.”

 

He didn’t want to give a specific time frame, but said, “for a new coach to come in, and truly change things, it can take three, or four, or five years.”

Moffitt believes he has an early edge, though, being in the middle school working with and knowing so many of the up-and-coming kids on a daily basis.

 

Progress will be the expectation early on, but, as he said, winning is the unquestioned end game.

 

“It has to be, 100 percent,” Moffitt said. “That’s the ultimate goal.”

 

He’s well aware of the challenge he’s gladly accepted, seen first hand the annual struggles the Mounties have endured on the hardwood, yet maintains an unwavering confidence things are about to change.

 

“I 100-percent believe it can,” Moffitt boasted. “The thing I’m happy about being here is I know these kids. I work with these kids in physical education every day, which is why I believe this can be turned around. We’re going to get the kids to trust what we’re doing and build from there.”

 

Mike Moore is a play-by-play commentator and Sports Writer for JTV Sports. You can reach him at mjm12@albion.edu. He’s also the author of ‘Love, Defined; A Dedication to the Love, Sacrifice, and Magic of Motherhood.’

Love, Defined is available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Tate Publishing or by contacting Mike directly.

 

Visit http://lovedefinedbook.weebly.com for more information.

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