It sounded like a good idea, so Steve Ketchum, not your ordinary schoolboy coach, said he “stole it.”
He was at a coaches clinic last summer and heard the concept of guest assistant coach as part of his basketball team.
It seemed as golden as Aspen’s trees with the same name in the fall.
“You try to get one good idea here, one from there,” Ketchum said. “And I thought, ‘That sounds really cool.’ ”
Remember, he’s a bench boss at Aspen, exclusive Glitterland of the Rocky Mountains, where the rich and famous from around the planet come to ski, be seen and get away from whatever rich folks feel they need to get away from.
It’s not as if the energetic Ketchum, a veteran coach with credentials who also could have been a regular at Duke’s nearby cabin in the comic strip “Doonesbury,” has gotten Sly or Goldie to be guest water persons or court sweepers during timeouts.
No, it’s better.
For all Skiers home games in 2007-08, the coach has an open invitation to district personnel, everyone from superintendent to custodian, to add assistant coach in basketball to their resumes.
Truth is, the playground to the affluent remains true to those with small-town Colorado ties.
“They just love it, they’re eating it up,” Ketchum said.
The job comes with most amenities. The seat on the bench, which is at their discretion. Getting into the huddle. Participating in pregame warm-ups. Offering an opinion. Addressing the team before the game. All the towels, clipboards and water bottles they need. And standing right there as the coach rips into his players.
There are some rules, though — no getting a technical, which Ketchum fears could be the difference in a game, and no newbies for away games, as the Skiers’ road work is, like in all mountain areas during winter, a hassle.
By last weekend, two lucky one-game assistants had some of the best seats in the house, both chosen by Skiers players.
First up was Andy Popinchalk, an English and speech teacher at the high school. He was chosen by 6-foot-7 senior Cory Parker, who is in one of Popinchalk’s classes. Starting the season No. 9 in The Denver Post/9News Class 3A poll, the Skiers beat Eagle Valley by 33 points.
“(Popinchalk) had never played or coached in his entire life,” Ketchum said. “To be a part of the bench was absolutely a unique experiment for him.”
Next up was Kirk Gregory, another teacher (history and social studies), but a former Skiers head coach about a generation ago. Aspen downed defending 2A champion Grand Valley 61-50.
On deck is Josh Berro, a special-education instructor and former middle-school coach set to be there against Basalt after the first of the year.
It’s a reality show in multiple ways, since games are aired on television throughout the valley.
“What a great way to build positive relationships between academic teachers and the basketball program,” Ketchum said. “It doesn’t matter if you have a background or give a rip about it.”
In the opener, the coach also donated a seat on the bench — through a silent auction that raised $200 for the Aspen Education Foundation — that was supposed to be a present to a man’s son, but he got sick and his sister took his place.
However, it hasn’t turned into a circus when the Skiers are home.
“It really keeps our coaching staff on our toes and we’re putting pressure on ourselves to act appropriately, set an example and say the right thing,” Ketchum said. “We know we’re being held accountable.”
Basketball has been many things for Ketchum, the school’s 10-year coach who has spent time as a graduate assistant at Baylor, had prep stops 15 minutes from the Kansas Jayhawks and along the northern Front Range, and toiled overseas in Germany, where he watched Dirk Nowitzki in his late teens “go from 6-foot-6 to 6-9 to 6-11.”
It has to be fun.
“This is the best high school job in America without a doubt,” Ketchum said.
“I’m living in paradise.”
