Andy Sears achieves 300th win in basketball
Eliza Pinckney, Reporter

Andy Sears, athletic director and head coach of the boys basketball team, recently achieved his 300th win. He has long been a valuable asset for high school athletics, coaching boys basketball for 19 years and helming the athletic department as director for five years.

Despite the merit of this achievement, Sears does not credit himself for his 300th win.

“We’ve had so many unbelievably good players … that are willing to make sacrifices for our team,” Sears said. “It’s not about me. The magic has and always will be with the players. It’s just more of a sign of great players and coaches and everyone coming together for a common purpose.”

Basketball has always played a big role in Sears’s life. He started playing basketball around the age of five, and continued to play throughout elementary and high school. His experience on the team in high school changed the course of his basketball career.

“I broke my foot my sophomore year of high school, and I sat on the bench down with the coaches,” he said. “I just loved that aspect of [basketball], and I knew that I wanted to do coaching.”

Senior Jeremiah Bogaard has been playing on Sears’ team for the past four years.

“I think one of the main things I have learned from him has been how to prepare,” Bogaard said. “His process of preparation is the same for every game, no matter who we’re playing. He’s taught us to focus on what we can control, and to ‘clean up our side of the fence.’”

Sears tries to not only be a coach for his players, but a role model as well. He is passionate about the influence coaches can have on their players and the bonds that can form between them all. These connections have played an important role in Sears’ life.

“As they go through high school, [coach] is more of a mentor role, but then as they graduate and become older they become some of my great friends, people that I cherish my relationship with. That’s what I love,” Sears said.

Christian Hassan, a former student who was coached by Sears, is currently an assistant coach for the boys team. He has also been inspired by Sears.

“Few people have had as big of an impact on my life as Andy has. Being a [former] player, it’s been an honor to work alongside him, and to see his evolution as a coach,” Hassan said.

While relationships are a part of coaching that Sears may cherish, his role of Athletic Director (AD) at the high school is also important to him. As AD, Sears helps coaches with their programs and handles necessary jobs such as scheduling games and game management. He does all this while continuing to coach boys basketball.

“Taking on the AD roles, I’ve been able to help some other teams in other programs, and that’s been fun, too,” Sears said. “I really love basketball, but I’m pulling for all of our teams and all of our athletes to do as best as they can.”

Throughout his career, Sears has worked hard at being a good coach and making sure the team is playing as best it can. This year, the students have made it easy for Sears to assemble a strong team and to reach his 300th win.

“There are definitely seasons that are harder than others, but that’s part of the magic of our [current] players,” Sears said. “We got really great guys that want to be a part of this and work hard and make commitments and sacrifices for our team. That makes it really fun and easy.”