By Bob Walsh
March 28, 2014
I had Rogers High School kids on my team at RIC before I’d ever seen Rogers High School play. Cam Stewart was the first one, and he was in school at RIC when I got the job. He had a great 4-year career for us and was a key player in establishing our run of success. Nick Manson and Mason Choice followed, and altogether I’ve now had 5 players from Rogers High School play for me at RIC. Tough. That’s the first word you would use when describing every Rogers kid. Rogers is in Newport, Rhode Island, and tough is not the first word you think of when you think of Newport. But these kids were remarkably tough. They were prepared for college basketball from the day they got here. They picked up our defensive stuff immediately and had great natural instincts on the court. They had great feel for the game, were unselfish, competed extremely hard and made their teammates better. They did whatever they needed to help the team win, and winning was always their main concern. Jim Psaras’ kids were good at winning. I can’t really think of a better way to put it.
I finally made it to see Rogers play a few years after I started at RIC, watching them in a state playoff game. They had a talented team that could make some serious noise in the state playoffs that year. I watched them play and saw a team that competed really hard and defended in a way that most high school teams didn’t. They were bought in on defense and clearly had a system, something you don’t see that often in high school. I started to understand why their kids fit in so well with what we did, because their defensive principles were very similar. They were disciplined and clearly well-trained.
Rogers was shorthanded that night and took a loss, with a couple of their best players not playing. After the game I found out that Coach Psaras had suspended 3 of his kids for the state playoff game. When I spoke to him after the game his explanation was very simple – “If you don’t do what your supposed to, you don’t get to play.” That’s when it hit me. Now I knew why his kids were so ready to play when they got to college. I learned from Coach Psaras that night, and it certainly wasn’t the last time that happened.
As a coach it’s not really about the score, it’s about the impact. Jim Psaras won a lot of games in his career. But more importantly he had a huge impact. What a great legacy. I’ve been coaching basketball in Rhode Island for 16 years, and I love how important basketball is in this state during the winter. In conversations with people about Rogers High School or Jim Psaras, the next sentence usually involved the phrase “best coach in the state.” Other coaches won more games and more state titles, but if you could measure the positive impact he’s had on his players over the years, I’d say most basketball coaches are chasing him. I know I am.
Jim Psaras retired from coaching at Rogers this week after 29 years. Unfortunately basketball in Rhode Island and the community in Newport got a little bit worse with that news. But if I was a young basketball coach hoping to run my own program one day, I’d make my way to Newport and look up Jim Psaras. I’d imagine he’d love to talk to you about leadership and basketball. He might be done coaching, but my guess is he’s not done having an impact.
