Hard work helps create 'cradle of coaches' at Harrison High School

In the words of Calbert Cheaney, Jerrill Vandeventer came from next to nothing. Hard work was all he knew. That philosophy rubbed off on his basketball players at Harrison High School.

"Without question, he was all about discipline," said Cheaney, who was named Indiana University's Director of Basketball Operations last month. "He was a working-class guy and that transferred to how we played. You don't take anything for granted."

Along with Walter McCarty, Chris Lowery, Brad Brownell and David Ragland, Cheaney helps form Harrison's NCAA Division I/NBA "cradle of coaches." In effect, Harrison has become a smaller-scale, high school basketball version of Miami of Ohio's legacy of football coaching excellence. While Woody Hayes, Bo Schembechler, Paul Brown and Sid Gillman left an indelible impression on college and pro football,

Cheaney was named the 1993 NCAA Basketball Player of the Year while McCarty helped lift Kentucky to the 1996 NCAA championship. Cheaney was a special assistant for the Golden State Warriors the last two years before returning to IU last month.

McCarty was an assistant last year as the Indiana Pacers advanced to the NBA playoffs. He previously served as an assistant at the University of Louisville.

Both had lengthy NBA careers as players.

For his part, Southern Illinois University's Lowery became the only man to represent the Missouri Valley Conference in the NCAA Tournament as a player and a coach at the same school.

Brownell guided Clemson to the 2011 NCAA Tournament in his first year at the school while Ragland followed suit in his first year as an assistant at Indiana State.

Cheaney, Lowery and Brownell all played for Vandeventer, currently the superintendent of Greater Jasper Consolidated Schools. McCarty split his prep career between Vandeventer and Will Wyman while Ragland played his entire career for Wyman. They led the Warriors to the 1999 Class 4A semistate.

Like Cheaney, Lowery and Brownell credited Vandeventer for building Harrison's program.

"I think the biggest thing is he taught us daily discipline and the understanding of the fact that you were going to do things his way, the right way," Lowery said. "He preached discipline and doing things the right way and that had a big effect on all of us."

Brownell, who has made four trips to the NCAA tournament as a head coach, said Vandeventer built a camaraderie within the program that is still in place to this day.

"I just don't know anything in particular that binds us all other than it was the era of coach Vandeventer," said Brownell, who also has been a head coach at UNC Wilmington and Wright State and has a record of 158-79 in nine seasons. "He got everything going at Harrison."

Brownell's father Bob coached at Castle.

Cheaney's hire helps bridge the gap between the Bob Knight era and the Tom Crean era at Indiana, which IU hopes will help dissipate the bitterness that developed after Knight was fired in 2000.

"If I am considered a bridge, so be it," said Cheaney, who sparked the Hoosiers to the 1992 Final Four and is the Big Ten's career scoring leader. "That's the last thing on my mind. At the same time, a lot of guys came back and continued to support the program. If we got everybody back, it would be excellent."

Cheaney considers himself blessed and feels lucky to have played for Vandeventer and Knight.

"(Along with my parents) they were very instrumental into helping me become the player I was and the person I am," Cheaney said.

He said returning to IU had nothing to do with money.

"It's about teaching responsibility, not just on the court, but off the court," Cheaney said. "Tom (Crean) and I developed a relationship the last three or four years. We communicated and texted all the time.

"It was a no-brainer for me to return to my alma mater. I just had to ask my wife and children if they were good with it."Lowery, who was a year behind Cheaney at Harrison and two years ahead of McCarty, said Cheaney's mere presence when he steps onto the floor helps IU immeasurably. Brownell agreed.

"He's going to be a great resource for the players on the team to talk to," said Brownell, who was a senior at Harrison when Cheaney was a sophomore. "He certainly has an unbelievable credibility, having been one of the best players in Big Ten history to a great career in the NBA. Young people are going to want to talk to him and listen to what he has to say about the game. He has an unbelievable pride in IU and will do everything he can to make them successful.

"He's a terrific hire. He certainly helps bring the past and part of the tradition to this group of kids."

Then an assistant, Lowery recruited Ragland to play at Missouri Southern, which advanced to the NCAA Division II Final Four in 2000, his freshman season.

"What made David special is he has a great motor," said Lowery, who guided SIU to the NCAA Division I Sweet Sixteen as a head coach in 2007.

Ragland appreciated the fact that Lowery granted him no special favors. In fact, Lowery was probably harder on him than anybody.

"He wouldn't let me settle for anything less than perfection," Ragland said. "He gave me that tough love. That's how he was."

In addition to his skills on the sidelines, Ragland said coach Wyman stressed that you treat everyone with respect.

"It doesn't matter who you are or where you come from," Ragland said.

With McCarty leading the way, Harrison finally won its first sectional title in 1992. Wyman guided the Warriors to seven sectional and three regional championships before retiring after the 2007 season.

Current Harrison coach Bryan Speer played with McCarty and Lowery in high school.

"There's a lot of tradition at Harrison," Speer said. "There was a 12-year span where a lot of guys were doing pretty big things in college basketball. I don't know if we expected this many guys to end up coaching. They were pretty good athletes and in charge on the court.

"There's a lot of leadership Chris and David were point guards and Calbert and Walter were amazing athletes who did everything."