Family guy: Bickett takes break from coaching, will focus on fatherhood
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| Brad Bickett stands at his kitchen table in Rock Falls with his children, Jalen, 7; Bailey, 10; Miley, 8 months; and Claire 4. Bickett resigned as Bureau Valley High School's boys basketball coach after 15 years to spend more time with his family. (Philip Marruffo/pmarruffo@svnmail.com) |
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ROCK FALLS – Brad Bickett has bled Bureau Valley blue for the past 15 years, but lately, he’s been seeing green.
After 15 seasons with the Storm, Bickett resigned Monday as head boys basketball coach, beginning some planned time off from coaching. A moment about a month ago, at his home just south of Rock Falls, helped seal the deal.
Bureau Valley was eliminated from the Class 2A playoffs after losing to Princeton in a regional semifinal. The Tigers moved on to the Byron Sectional, where they played Rock Falls. Bickett’s wife, Jolene, is a teacher at Rock Falls High School, so the game was of vital interest to the family.
“I got home at 3:45 and my kids are green from head to toe – green wigs, necklaces, shorts, shirts – you name it, they were green,” Bickett said. “To me, that was kind of a defining moment that yeah, you know what, it is time. My kids have always been torn: Are they going to play for the Storm or are they going to play for Rock Falls?
“My daughter Bailey still thinks she’ll ride down to school with me and play basketball for the Storm, but I think that was a defining moment. We’re going to go watch the Rock Falls Rockets play. We live up here. My kids go to Montmorency and we love that school. We built a house here and we’ve not leaving.
“I’m used to coming home and seeing the Bureau Valley Storm, Columbia navy blue, and I came home that night and the place is lit up like a green Christmas tree. I thought, you know what, it’s time.”
Bickett, 42, will still teach at Bureau Valley, but not coaching will free up more time for his family. Bailey, 10, is active in soccer, volleyball, basketball and track. Jalen, 7, competes in baskeball, baseball and soccer. Claire, 4, is a dancer, and plans to participate in softball, basketball and soccer. Miley is 8 months old.
Bickett’s year-round commitment to BV basketball kept him from attending many of his children’s activities. The family schedule was juggled nightly, with friends and family members often asked to watch the kids. Some nights, a babysitter had to be hired, as Brad coached his team and Jolene coached at Montmorency.
“It was a situation where I just felt that was kind of ridiculous,” Brad said, “and we needed to concentrate a little bit more on our family.”
Bickett, an all-state player at Ohio in the mid-1980s, built one of the top boys basketball programs in the area at Bureau Valley, where his teams went 287-150 in his 15 years. That included seasons of 26-6, 33-2 and 25-4 from 2000-02, when the Storm placed third in the Class A state tournament three consecutive years.
The 2004-05 team, led by Preston Jones, Jason Hasbrook and Brad Monier, finished 25-6 and had state tournament potential, but lost an overtime game to Eureka in the Princeton Sectional championship.
“Ever since that game,” Bickett said, “we’ve never really had that Bureau Valley swagger in the postseason.”
The Storm had losing records three of the next four seasons, and finished 14-13 this season, with personnel issues keeping the team from being more successful. Alex Franklin, the team’s leading scorer at about 19 points per game, was dismissed in late January due to an athletic code violation.
The Storm was already without point guard Nate DeVenney, who had season-ending shoulder surgery in December.
“Not having him Day 1 after practicing all summer with him and watching him lead our team through a great summer, it affected our players and if affected our coaches,” Bickett said. “I thought we were really were going to be a special basketball team and win at least 20 games. Without him, we really, really struggled trying to find somebody to play the point.”
Basketball will still be an important part of Bickett’s life – just in a different form. He’ll be watching his children play in games, and does not plan to coach them. He hopes Jolene, whom he termed an “excellent” coach, will have an opportunity in volleyball or basketball.
“She sacrificed for our family while I did some of my things at Bureau Valley,” Bickett said. “Maybe it’s my time to do some of that for her.”
Bickett also stressed he merely resigned as boys basketball coach at Bureau Valley – he didn’t retire. He envisions the day when he’ll be coaching again at the high school level.
“It just depends on the time and place,” Bickett said. “I’m still very, very passionate about basketball. If you watched me on the sideline this year, I didn’t change much as a coach.”
Bickett file
High school: Ohio (1986)
College: Eureka (1990)
Resides: Rock Falls
Family: Wife, Jolene; children, Bailey, 10; Jalen, 7; Claire, 4; Miley, 8 months
FYI: 356-209 in 20 seasons at Buda Western (4 years), Western-Wyanet (1), Bureau Valley (15). ... Led BV to 3 straight Class A 3rd-place finishes (2000-02).
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