DONNELLSON - The first season as Central Lee’s boys basketball coach couldn’t come fast enough for Jonny Swanson.
“I was working with these guys in the summer, and it was fun, but I remember thinking, ‘Man, I wish it was November and we could get the season going,’” Swanson said.
He’s made sure to know plenty about his team. Before he even got the job, he was studying game video of the Hawks to know who he might be coaching, and once he got the job he studied even more.
“Watching all that film showed me there are a lot of good pieces,” Swanson said. “I knew they had a bunch of really good athletes coming up. But once I got a look at them, I knew it wasn’t going to be a ‘rebuild’ team. A lot of the pieces are already there. You just have to get them to mesh.”
Swanson called the transition “seamless.:
“A lot of them have varsity experience already, which is really nice,” he said. “We added a lot of new stuff over the summer and at the beginning of practice, and they’ve adapted pretty quickly to some of those things. Some of it is the same as what they’ve done in the past, and some of it is different.”
The Hawks went 11-12 last season, 6-8 in the SEI Superconference South Division, and bring three starters back.
What Swanson likes the most about the team is the size. Junior forward Will Hayes is 6-foot-6, and senior forward Brayden Wyrick is 6-4. The two combined for 275 rebounds last season.
“Not a lot of teams in our conference can match up with our size,” Swanson said. “We’re going to have to play a lot of inside-out, create a lot of opportunities for our bigs. And if teams want to adjust to stop that, we’ve got guys who can hit shots from the outside.”
Wyrick averaged 15 points per game last season. Hayes averaged 10.1 points, and senior guard Owen Swan averaged 9.7.
Swan led the Hawks with 51 3-pointers last season, and Swanson likes the emergence of sophomore guard Carson Morrison, who had 10 3-pointers in four varsity games last season.
“I knew when I took this job there was a lot of talent coming back, and that experience really helps,” Swanson said.
Swanson, who grew up in Warsaw, Ill., got a coaching lesson in college when he was a practice player for Western Illinois’ women’s basketball team.
“I think the big thing I learned from watching them play and practicing with them and watching JD (Gravina) coach,” Swanson said. “JD does a good job of making sure there’s energy in practice. He makes sure everything is fun, everything is competitive. But he’s also not afraid of getting on people, holding them accountable, making sure they do their job.
“That was kind of an eye-opening perspective for me. Every drill was fast-paced, every drill was fun and competitive. But as soon as he needed to correct them, he did that. And that’s what I try to do.”
He’ll get his first chance at coaching a game for the Hawks when they play at Holy Trinity on Tuesday night.
It’s the moment Swanson has wanted.
“I am pumped,” he said. “It’s been something I’ve been looking forward to for a while now.”
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