Early state exit leaves Scanlon dejected

The reason that Rock Bridge boys’ basketball coach Jim Scanlon quit coaching after the 1999-2000 season was so he wouldn’t have to feel the way he felt on Thursday.

A day after the Bruins were eliminated from the Class 5 boys’ basketball tournament in a 51-44 loss to Troy Buchanan on Wednesday night, Scanlon sat slouched over with his arms crossed on a student desk in the Bruins’ weight room. He was talking to a student in the chair next to him about, what else, basketball.

“I’m doing fine,” Scanlon said, as the faint sound of a slow country song played in the background. “Actually no, no I’m not doing fine.”

Scanlon’s disappointment is something he has felt before in his long tenure as basketball coach for the Bruins.

Scanlon has coached Rock Bridge for 18 seasons. He started with the Bruins’ 1984-85 season, then took three seasons off between 2000 and 2003.

“Sometimes you just need a break,” Scanlon said. “The game can get to you sometimes.”

After friends and family encouraged him to return, he decided that he should.

“I enjoy basketball and the kids,” Scanlon said. “That’s my life.”

If the Bruins would have won Wednesday, Scanlon would have tallied his 500th victory. But Scanlon says, to him, 500 is just another number.

His son Blair Scanlon, who is an assistant coach for the Bruins, agreed with his father.

“It’s not that big of a deal,” Blair Scanlon said. “We just wanted to get a win and we didn’t. He coaches to win championships. Yeah, it would be special since it is a lot of games, but that doesn’t win a championship.”

Scanlon coached the Bruins to their best season in nine years. Now, all he can do is think of what could have been this year and look toward next year.

The Bruins were ranked in the top 10 in the state poll the entire season. They took over the No. 1 spot on Feb. 7, and they stayed there the rest of the regular season. They lost only one game during the regular season and finished at 25-2.

They played with an emphasis on defense and had the size and depth to make opponents tremble in their sneakers. They lost their top scorer, Alex Austin, in the middle of the season to a torn ACL, but their performance didn’t suffer, and it looked as if they were destined for their first state title.

“Sometimes things just don’t work out,” Scanlon said about Wednesday’s loss. “We played good. They just shot well. We had our chances, but they just shot too good.”

The Bruins will lose five key players next season, including starters Brett Gifford and Austin.

“We will just have some holes to fill,” Scanlon said. “Hopefully these guys will remember what this feels like, and we can get back to where we were at this year.”

After a few other coaches left their posts in Columbia this year, Blair Scanlon said that he doesn’t think that his dad’s coaching career will end anytime soon.

“For now he will be there,” Blair Scanlon said. “He will be there until he isn’t needed anymore. I’d say another 4 to 5 years at least.”