New coach has Bruins roots

Hickman and Rock Bridge high schools have had a rivalry since 1973, when Rock Bridge opened its doors for its first school year.

Since then, stadiums and gymnasiums painted in an array of green and purple shirts during sporting events in which the two schools play against each has become as common as the sunrise.

But now there is a new twist to this rivalry.

With the hiring of Kenny Ash as its new basketball coach on Friday, Hickman hired a former Bruin. Ash played basketball for the Bruins from 1985-88. Jim Scanlon coached the Bruins during Ash’s time with the Bruins.

The coach that Ash will face when he steps onto the court for the first time against his alma mater next season will be none other than Scanlon. Scanlon has coached the Bruins since the 1984-85 season.

“It will be exciting,” Ash said. “He is a great coach and a good friend. I learned a lot from him. But he has a lot more victories than me.”

In the upcoming years, Ash will have to face the coach who taught him so much. He said that since he knows how Scanlon works, he can use that to his advantage.

Although Ash said that he is, and always will be, a Bruin, he must now become a Kewpie, something his friends aren’t too fond of.

“I’ve got a lot of friends that are calling me and are like, ‘Man what’s going on, what are you doing?’” Ash said. “They’re letting me hear it all right.”

Ash attended Rock Bridge, but he said that he feels that he has been a Kewpie longer.

Ash’s father, Ken Ash, coached at Hickman during the 1970s and Ash said that he spent a lot of time at the school when he was younger.

“I grew up in that neighborhood, around Hickman,” Ash said. “I had been there plenty of times with my dad. What a lot of people don’t know, is that I was wearing the purple long before I was wearing the green.”

Purple is a color that Ash will start to get re-familiarized with when he starts coaching in the fall.

Ash comes to Hickman from Oakville Senior High School in St. Louis, where he has coached the past three years and compiled a record of 48-33.

Ash said that it is an honor to coach against Scanlon and said that he has faced his old coach once before. In 2004, Rock Bridge and Oakville faced off against each other in the MFA Oil/Break Time Shootout at the Hearnes Center. Scanlon and the Bruins won that game 57-53.

Ash said that he isn’t worried that his old coach is one up on him, because he knows that his time will come.

“It’s a great rivalry,” Ash said. “We will have our moments with Rock Bridge, and they will have their moments with us. We’re just going to go out there and try to win.”

Ash said though it is a big rivalry and is good for the fans, he won’t let it get between his friendship with Scanlon.

Ash will take over a Kewpies team that will lose only one player from last season’s 13-15 team — Taylor Florence. He will also take over a team that lost its last game of the year to Scanlon’s Bruins in the semifinals of the Class 5 District 10 Tournament.