Tag: Larry Tidwell

The widely accepted, and much bemoaned, premise is that a coach can no longer coach, but rather just gently guide a teenager, or college player, into doing anything while praying this neutered method nets wins.

That the coach of previous generations would not last five seconds, much less five games or five years, trying to coach today’s high school or NCAA player.

“I’ll say this — I haven’t changed the way I coach kids,” said 72-year-old Larry Tidwell, a veteran of 50 years of coaching basketball.

“Kids adjust. Kids still want to be coached. I hold them to be accountable, and they want that. I am not going to sit here and say, ‘It’s OK’ when I know it’s not. As much as I get on them, I make sure to give them credit when they do the right thing. I’ve been coaching the same way for 50 years and I don’t plan to change now.”

It can be done.

Tidwell began his athletic career at TCU more than 50 years ago when he played on the football and basketball teams. He would transfer to play quarterback at Austin College, where his position coach was future Kansas State head coach Bill Snyder.

“The man taught me about perfection,” Tidwell said.

Since then, Tidwell lived the life of a wall-traveled women’s basketball coach who has coached everywhere, and knows everyone. Baylor. TCU. Kansas. Frisco High School, when it was the only high school in town. Lamar. UT-Rio Grande Valley. Mexia. Louisiana-Monroe. Schulenberg High School. Dallas Christian. Texas Tech. Tarleton State.

Assistant coach. Head coach. Athletic director.

This season, Bellevue. Not Washington. Bellevue, Texas, population 359 people. It’s approximately 80 miles northwest of Fort Worth, 30 miles south of the Oklahoma border, and just a few miles east of nowhere.

Still a current resident of Fort Worth, Tidwell was recruited to come out of a potential retirement last summer to return to the bench to coach a team that had not a winning season since 2018-19. Today, the Class A Bellevue Eagles are 29-2, district champions for the first time since 2013, and will go to the state playoffs.

Old-school coaching still works in school

One of the major points of concern stressed by coaches is that they increasingly no longer feel like they are allowed the time, or space, to help develop a young person into becoming a contributing member of society as an adult.

What once used to be a job requirement and mission has been replaced by an assortment of other priorities, namely playing time, addressing a list of parental concerns, and money.

“I try to make a difference each and every day with the players,” Tidwell said. “Some of them accept that, and some don’t. The parents have been excellent here; I’ve had some ‘conferences’ but they’ve been excellent. Coaching is coaching.

“I’ve learned in 50 years of coaching that you are only as good as your administration wants you to be.”

At least on the high school and small college level, that last part is often a determining factor. As long as the “head of state” gives the coach room to be both a teacher and coach, there is space for that person to mentor and guide a young person beyond the game.

The other determining factor remains the parent, which … who knows?

At a high school like Bellevue, which has fewer than 200 students, Larry Tidwell has been given the full support to be Coach Tidwell.

Why Larry Tidwell came back to coach one more season

This time one year ago, Tidwell was coaching Schulenburg High School, and had every intention of staying for another season. But his mother became ill, and he returned to Fort Worth to be close to her after the season ended.

In the spring, a friend from Bellevue inquired about his interest, and availability, to coach a girls basketball team that needed a coach. His mother died in the summer, and he was not quite ready to be done.

“I really did want to get to 50 years,” Tidwell said. “I love the game. I still enjoy coaching. I do think I can help, and I try to make a difference for a young person.”

On a varsity roster of 15 players, his tallest stands 5-foot-8. His team takes a lot of 3-pointers, and the ones they miss rebounding are the priority. He was able to “recruit” enough players out of the hallways for a junior varsity team, the only one in Bellevue’s district.

The combined records of the varsity, JV and middle school teams at Bellevue is 49-6.

The floor the team plays on is made of rubber that is more than 30 years old. He led a fundraising effort that now has brought in more than $250,000, which will be used for a wood floor in the gym with new bleacher seats.

Tidwell is unsure whether he will return for another season, but in this one year at Bellevue he has proven that a person with his title doesn’t have to be a tour guide but can still coach.