GREENVILLE – Steve Pittman, a well-known name in area boys’ basketball coaching circle, Beavercreek graduate, and the 6’10” former University of Dayton Flyer brings his Bethel Bees high school boys basketball team to Greenville on Saturday, January 20th for a non-conference matchup with the Green Wave on Hall of Fame Night at Greenville.
Pittman takes over a Bethel Bees program that has had four head varsity coaches in the past five years and brings 34 years of coaching experience to the program that stands at 1-6 in the Three Rivers Conference and 3-9 overall averaging 47.8 points per game and giving up an average of 56.1 per contest.
The Green Wave stands at 2-12 overall and 2-9 in MVL play with a 37.1 scoring average while surrendering 58.0 per game.
Pittman is a 1985 Beavercreek graduate was an All-State player, an Honorable Mention All-American, and a three-year starter for Don Donoher at Dayton.
“I Played for one of the greatest coaches ever – Larry Holden,” said Pittman. “We had some really good teams in high school. I ended up signing with the University of Dayton playing for Coach Donoher – my guy.”
“It’s tough as a freshman because you come in thinking you know everything and you find out you know nothing but as you mature it gets a lot easier,” Pittman said of playing at UD for Coach Donoher. “The way I couch now, I am firm but fair and that’s how Coach Donoher was.”
Coach Pitman took time to talk about high school sports in general and the conduct expected from all involved from the athletes to the parents and the fans.
“It’s not my right to coach anywhere, it’s an honor and a privilege and I take it as such,” Pitman stated. “If I’m in trouble and I don’t coach the game, the game is still going to go on so if you get kicked out of a game because you don’t know how to act, we’re still going to play that game without you there but I would rather you be a part of the game. Come and support us, support your son or support your daughter but some people make it about them – you can’t relive your childhood through your child … not a good thing.”
“When I have my parent’s meetings one of the things I made a point of emphasis to tell the parent, don’t coach from the stands,” Pitman continued.
“When I got hired I posted that I needed a JV coach, varsity assistant, freshman coach, seventh-grade coach, eighth-grade coach and since none of you applied, you just told me you didn’t want to coach so this goes hand in hand because you’ll want to coach from the stands. Then you don’t get your way and you’ll start berating the officials.”
“We have to get away from that because we’re turning away seasoned officials and with those seasoned officials, those are the guys who have been grooming the next group behind them. Nobody is grooming these guys behind them.”
“If you’re at a seventh and eighth-grade game, a freshman game, these guys are just getting started and they’re not allowed to grow because some parent wants to berate them.”
“We’ve all seen it where our referees have been attacked – why does it have to be that? My biggest advice is to calm down, you’re not there for that, you’re there to support your sons or daughters team and your son or daughter. Just be a parent, just do that.”
“Leave the refs alone, let them do their job good, bad, or indifferent. They’re going to miss calls, they’re going to make some great calls. There are two sides to that coin so when the ref calls a foul you have one person going yes and one person going no, so calm down, relax, let them do their job and the games will run smoothly but you cannot leave the bleachers and run out and attack the ref, you can’t attack a ref in the parking lot.”
“It’s so sad that it has come to that. I wish it hadn’t come to that but then on the other hand when people do this, there has to be some charges filed, there has to be some type of punishment, some type of banishment. You do this at a high school game, you shouldn’t be allowed back in the facility, but the way parents get around it is, you get suspended say at Bethel and you can’t come to the games, a lot of times they’ll just wait and go on the road – that can’t happen, you should be banned,”
“If it’s a league game you should be banned from all league games whether it’s home or away,” Coach Pitman concluded. “That is why we can’t get the type of refs that we’re losing because they’re not around to groom the younger guys because they’re all fed up.”
