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03/08/2017 11:00 PMScott Harger wears many hats at Valley Regional High School. In addition to being head coach of the freshman boys’ basketball team, Scott is also an assistant for the Warriors’ JV and varsity squads, as well as its golf team.
Scott recently finished his fifth year coaching Valley freshman boys’ hoops and guided the club to a record of 14-4. In his first year as a varsity assistant in 2013, Scott helped the Warriors win the Shoreline Conference championship. Prior to that season, he coached freshman and JV basketball for 13 years at St. Bernard, where he was also a golf coach.
Scott enjoyed tremendous success with the Warriors’ freshman team this year. Unfortunately, Valley’s varsity squad saw key players suffer injuries, and the Warriors missed making the playoffs by one win. Still, Scott remains upbeat and always encourages his athletes to do the same.
“I just try to instill being positive,” says Scott, a Rockville native who lives in Ivoryton. “Just keep on working. Even when you’re losing, you have to stay positive because that’s when you play your best. Don’t give up.”
It’s that mentality, coupled with some solid basketball fundamentals, that allowed Scott’s freshman squad to have a winning season this year. The Warriors’ freshmen are an athletic group, and Scott used that athleticism to put some serious pressure on opposing offenses up and down the court. Scott believes that kind of defense pays off on both sides of the floor.
“My philosophy is defense first. Defense wins championships. Defense makes the offense better,” Scott says. “You can get a lot of points when you turn stops into fast-breaks on the other end.”
With that strategy in mind, Scott tries to get each of his athletes into every game to help them build the habits they’ll need when they advance to the JV and varsity squads. Scott likes to give his players as much experience as possible, so they can better recognize situations in a game and then react to them. In the process, Scott tries to simplify things for the boys.
“Basketball is easier when you don’t have to think too much. If you run too many set plays, sometimes the kids can’t remember every play,” he says. “If you teach them how to think like a basketball player, then they can make better decisions on their own on the court.”
The way in which Scott instructs Valley’s up-and-coming basketball players makes him an integral part of the pipeline that feeds people to the varsity team. That fact is certainly not lost on varsity Head Coach Kevin Woods.
“He’s a guy I value immensely,” says Woods. “I rely on him. His dedication to the program is unparalleled.”
Coach Woods depends on Scott to not only impact the varsity team by working with future players on their fundamentals, but by also preparing them for the schemes that they’ll see when they move up.
“I try to figure who’s going to be helping out next season for JV and varsity,” says Scott. “Every year we come in, we try to mold our guys into better basketball players. You have to see them day in and day out.”
Scott started coaching basketball as a way to do something positive to balance out the negative things in life. As a retiree from the Connecticut Department of Corrections, he’s used to encountering negative situations on a daily basis. Since his retirement, Scott has had a lot more time to devote to coaching. Scott also uses his free time to play golf, and he frequently hits the links while working part-time at the Stonington Country Club’s pro shop. In other words, Scott is still keeping plenty busy these days and, luckily, he gets plenty of support from Woods, as well as assistant coaches Anthony Pagano, Brad Pittman, and Bobby Sanchez.
“It’s not really just me coaching the freshman team,” Scott says. “Woods, Pagano, Brad Pittman, and Bobby Sanchez, we all work together.”
The culture that Scott and his fellow Valley coaches have built is a selfless one in which everyone is accountable. In turn, the credit for any success that the Warriors achieve is shared across the board.
“What’s great about being at Valley is that Coach Woods gives us more range than some other coaches would, even in the varsity games,” says Scott. “He always says all the victories are for everyone. It’s not just the coaches. It’s the parents, the kids. It’s a whole community that coaches this team and gets these wins.”