BUCYRUS — Barry Egan came to Bucyrus as boys’ head basketball coach three years ago, when the program was without one after then head coach Justin Mattix resigned in July.
Longtime assistant coach in the Redmen program, Phil Joseph, contacted Egan, since the number of viable applicants was limited due to the timing of Mattix’ exit.
“When I talked to Phil and accepted the job, I was told by 10-15 different coaches not to take it because it was a dysfunctional program,” Egan said. “I fell in love with our kids, our parents, the businesspeople here, the classroom teachers — everybody was just salt of the earth, were fun to be around, just good people. I really liked it at Bucyrus.”
Egan — who was the 44th coach in the history of BHS basketball — will not be back for a fourth season.
When reached for comment, Bucyrus athletic director Matt Makeever was positive about Egan’s tenure at Bucyrus, but felt the time was right for change, nonetheless.
“We appreciate all that Coach Egan has done for our kids and our team. He has pushed our kids to get better each day,” Makeever said. “At this time, we do feel it is right for our program to head in a different direction. We thank Coach Egan for his three years at Bucyrus.”
With six different head coaching jobs on his resume, Egan brought a professional approach to Bucyrus. He headed much larger programs, such as Cleveland Heights, Troy, Marion Harding, and Indian Lake.
Despite his efforts and the buy-in from the kids, Egan didn’t get the desired results, playing in the rugged Northern 10 Athletic Conference. His 9-60 overall, 5-41 N10 record do not necessarily reflect the hours of teaching and mentoring that the veteran coach put into the program.
“I didn’t put the program in the shape that it was in,” Egan said. “Throughout my career, I’ve never taken a good job and we’ve always made programs better.
“I was proud of our kids,” Egan continued. “We went from the first two years of basically playing a JV team to finally last year being able to play with a varsity group.”
Egan was appreciative of the support he received, for the most part, both inside and outside the system — coaches, teachers, parents, and the kids themselves.
We had an excellent staff of guys,” Egan said. “Some were very good classroom teachers. They were certainly kid oriented. They cared about the kids first.
“The parents here wanted their kids to be coached,” Egan continued. “They wanted their kids to be held accountable and wanted them to act the right way. We had a great amount of support.”
The one thing Egan would have liked was more administrative support.
“Everything we did, we had to raise the money for,” Egan said. “Our uniforms, practice gear, travel gear, shoes, braces — were all bought by us or the kids.”
He also feels that Bucyrus is missing opportunities at self-promotion as a district.
“You look at (Colonel) Crawford and Wynford. They publicize their school districts greatly. We really don’t and we have a lot to offer.”
Adding to the stress was of the situation was Egan’s own health. He has had a history of back surgeries and underwent another one on April 28.
“I don’t know what’s next. I just know that I’ve got to get healthy,” Egan said. “This is my third back surgery. Coaching is one of the things that really hurts it. But I’ll get through this.”
His love of basketball and coaching drives Egan to want to continue. He hasn’t ruled out making a return to the sidelines if the opportunity presents itself.
“I’ll go on,” Egan said. “I’ll miss the kids immensely. I’ll miss the parents. My last surgery, I had to take seven years off. I’m working at something that’s a little bit more in depth. We’ll see if we can bounce back from that.”