After saying before the season that this would year be his last as head coach of the Niagara Falls Wolverines, Dan Bazzani is backing off those statements as his team prepares for a matchup with Fairport in the New York State Class AA Far West Regionals at 6:30 p.m. Saturday at the Buffalo State College Sports Arena.
“That’s not a focus right now. I’m not even thinking about it,” the coach said. “I really haven’t given it a lot of thought and I’d rather not think about it. I’ve been concentrating on the next task at hand.”
Most of Bazzani’s players have the same feelings. To a man, they haven’t really thought about it during their run to another Section VI championship.
“It never really crossed my mind,” senior Kendall Davis said.
Senior point guard Anthony Marshall added: “We’ve never really thought about it.”
Whether the reigning National High School Coach of the Year comes back for another season or rides off into the sunset, all of Bazzani’s players know what kind of impact he has had on them.
“He’s a leader to our team,” Davis said. “He helps us win games and I don’t know where we would be without him.”
Tyrell Lynch, the Wolverines 6-foot-8 senior big man, along with Marshall both say that Bazzani brings more than just basketball knowledge to the defending state and federation champs.
“Coach Bazzani means everything to this team,” Lynch said. “Every day he’s here at practice giving us everything he’s got and making us better people and better players.”
Marshall chimed in, “He’s a great coach and he let’s us have fun. He’s a nice, well-rounded individual.”
Despite Bazzani’s unwillingness to say whether he will return to the bench next season, a handful of players felt as though their coach should go out on top.
“It would be nice for him to go out with back-to-back championships,” Davis said.
Lynch agreed.
“We want to win it for coach Bazzani and send him off a winner,” he said.
Bazzani on the other hand continued to refuse to speculate, while saying that he was focused on getting back to Glens Falls.
“I haven’t really thought about it,” he said. “I’d rather think about containing Corey McAdam and beating Fairport.”
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