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Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Head-Scratching Decision at Lathrup


Southfield-Lathrup recently made a decision that was a bit of a head scratcher. The Chargers allowed head coach Mike Avery, who had been the head coach at Lathrup for 15 years walk away, after he chose not to reapply for the position. Avery’s replacement will be Desmond Denham, a well-regarded coach in the AAU circuits, who served as an assistant to Avery last year.

Denham will turn out to be a great hire for Lathrup in my mind, but I can’t help but wonder why the Chargers allowed Avery to walk away. Avery was one of Oakland County’s top coaches during his 15 years in charge, and took home several league titles during that span of time. Big things were (and still are) expected out of the Lathrup basketball program with star point guard Jon-Jon Williams returning for his senior year.

The good news for Lathrup is that Denham is familiar with the program and has coached several local stars on some of the AAU teams he has coached in the past, including Williams for several years. The familiarity between Williams and Denham should have an immediate impact as the Chargers won't miss a beat from the start of the season.

It seemed like Avery had accomplished more than enough with the Lathrup program to assure himself some job security, but that didn’t turn out to be the case for some reason. Like I said earlier, I truly believe that Lathrup made the right decision by hiring Denham, but I don’t think a coaching change was necessary in any way, shape or form.

Twitter.com/JDeuceDullack

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