MORGANTOWN — Morgantown High boys’ coach Dave Tallman loves basketball.
Tallman grew up around the sport, so it’s only natural he has such a connection to it. His father is a legendary coach in West Virginia prep circles, having earned three state championships at Magnolia. Dave Tallman led one of those squads from the point guard spot.
Fast-forward 16 years, and the younger Tallman had a state championship as a coach as well.
Now, he’s ready to give back to the basketball community, which has thus far given him so much, as today he hosts the first West Virginia Basketball Coaches Clinic, at MHS.
“There are coaching clinics all over the country, and most are pretty expensive, and they’re college or professional coaches,” he said. “We wanted to do something where we have successful high school coaches present what makes their programs successful.
“We wanted to get some of the best minds from across the state and have people learn from them.”
The result of his ambitions is a daylong affair, which will kick off at 11 a.m. with Williamstown girls’ basketball coach and 2003 state champion Fred Sauro presenting.
Next, the father-son Tallman duo will speak, followed by Wheeling Jesuit head coach Danny Sancomb.
The clinic will then break for lunch, before finishing with presentations from three-time state champion and Martinsburg head coach Dave Rogers and Billy Hahn, former head coach at La Salle and Ohio University and long-time assistant of Bob Huggins at WVU.
“Any time you can put all of these coaches in the same area, it’s a good thing,” Sancomb said. “It’s a great slate of coaches who have won a lot of games and are obviously doing the right thing.”
According to both Sancomb and Tallman, the biggest goal at a clinic is to build relationships and further knowledge, and any time a coach can take away even one or two teaching points, it’s a successful day.
“I think when coaches go to a clinic, the big thing is if they can learn a couple things and take them back to their program. That’s the ultimate goal,” Tallman said. “That, and the camaraderie of hanging out with other coaches. I think you can lean a lot just by throwing ideas around off each other. I think it’s going to be a great day.”
“It’s not necessarily just the presenting, but building relationships with high school coaches and learning from them,” Sancomb said.
The Jesuit head coach will present on skills development on the offensive end of the floor, which he views as a critical tool for high school coaches, as they can’t recruit.
“The way you make your program better in high school is to get your guys better; that’s the only way your program is going to get better. You have to work skill development,” he said. “I’m going to show a lot of different things we do with our guys, from ball handling to shooting to passing. Just all these things to help get guys better.”
Hahn will be the keynote speaker at the clinic, presenting on possibly the hottest defensive scheme to hit basketball in the past decade, one West Virginians coined “Press Virginia” due to the success Huggins and the Mountaineers have seen using it.
“I think that’s something every coach in the country would like to learn. I can’t thank him and coach Sancomb enough for giving up their time to come speak to us,” Tallman said.
Registration for the clinic starts at 10 a.m., with the fee $60 at the door. All sessions will take place on the floor in the Rowdy Center at MHS.
“I hope this is something we can continue to grow over the years,” Tallman said, “and this is something I can give back to the coaches.”
