HICKORY — If you didn’t know better, it looked like West Rowan coach Mike Gurley and assistant Robert Hairston wanted to throw on some gloves and go face-to-face for 12 rounds on Saturday night.
During the third quarter of the Falcons’ 82-59 victory against Sun Valley, the two coaches got involved in what appeared to be a heated exchange on the sideline.
Star center Donte Minter had been held to seven points in the first half, and Hairston wanted to move the senior away from the baseline and closer to the top of the key.
Gurley feared the consequences, and as he put it, the two began, “conversating.”
“I didn’t know if I should get between them or start laughing,” assistant Brian Perry later said.
Neither option proved necessary. Gurley has given Hairston, in his third season as a West assistant, the freedom to provide his input without a fear of overstepping his bounds.
And Hairston, more often than not, has given Gurley good advice — Minter, operating away from the basket, went on to score 12 points in the second half.
The Falcons have rolled to a 27-0 record heading into Friday’s regional matchup with Ashbrook, and Gurley doesn’t try to corral all the credit.
“I don’t have to make the decisions,” he said. “I don’t need to be the Wizard of Westwood or the Magician of Mount Ulla.
“Coaching’s not about ego, it’s about trying to accomplish your goals.”
Gurley admits that he has enjoyed so much success at Lexington and West Rowan because of his relationship with Hairston, who has worked with Gurley for eight of the last 10 seasons.
Former Lexington head coach Richard Jones brought the two together in 1992, when he persuaded Hairston to leave his job at the local YMCA and coach the school’s freshman team.
Jones soon left Lexington, though, to coach in New York. Gurley, the jayvee coach, moved up to man the varsity, which meant an instant promotion for Hairston.
Hairston had played one season of basketball at Davidson Community College and, as a 5-foot-7 point guard, made his mark as a defensive stopper.
Hairston brought that mentality to the Lexington program, and it was reinforced by Jones and Gurley early on.
“They showed me all the drills required for defense,”Hairston said. “From that point on, my whole emphasis was defense.”
Hairston’s focus hasn’t wavered. Gurley credited Hairston with the decision to stick 6-foot-7 forward Jason Williams on Sun Valley point guard Jason Orbison on Saturday night, a move that greatly benefitted the Falcons.
Hairston actually got the idea from former West player Josh Avery on the bench. Still, Hairston had to approach Gurley with the plan.
“He tells me all the time, ‘Don’t just sit there, you better tell me something.’ ” saidHairston, who’s in his first year of teaching at West.
“There’s been times I’ve suggested things to him, and he’s just totally ignored me. There are other times I suggest things and he’ll do it right away.”
That sounds like a recipe for embarrassment, but Hairston feels fortunate to sit in such a position.
“I just do whatever Mike asks me to do,” Hairston said. “I’m really lucky that I’m with someone that allows me to have the input during the game.”
Hairston has had that backfire, to a degree. During the closing minutes of a Lexington game several years ago, Gurley wanted to take Marcus Hargrave out of a contest to bring in a better ballhandler.
Hairston didn’t see eye-to-eye with Gurley, and he let him know it.
“He turns around and yells to me, ‘OK, Hairston, I’m going to leave him in there, but if we lose this game, it’s all on you.’ ” Hairston recalled.
“He was yelling at the top of his lungs. When he said it to me, I turned around and looked into the stands, and all the fans were looking at me. All I could do was just smile.”
Hargrave handled the ball well down the stretch, and, luckily for Hairston, Lexington won the game.
“We won that game, or I wouldn’t be coaching with him today,” Hairston said. “He probably would have gotten rid of me at that point.”
Gurley’s glad he didn’t. Even if it doesn’t always appear that way by their interaction on the bench.
“Your manners might not be as perfect as you want them to be when you’re out there fighting and clawing and grabbing,” Gurley said. “You can apologize later.”
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