Loyalty is like glue.
It’s one major adhesive that keeps three pieces – coaches, players and team – bonded together in sports. If one is loose, everything falls apart.
Last summer, Nate Naylor became the glue that kept the North Hagerstown boys basketball team together.
In fact, his loyalty came from the same container that he uses for his family.
A wide range of circumstances led Naylor to becoming the Hubs’ new head coach.
It started when Kevin Naylor – North’s former coach and Nate’s father – suffered a heart attack. Nate Naylor picked up the torch for both the team and for the family.
“I definitely didn’t know what was going to happen with my dad,” Nate said. “Is he going to make a recovery and be able to coach?
“I was kind of around the team with my dad being here and I wasn’t coaching last year. I learned a good bit about the kids. So, when my dad had his heart attack and I kind of knew he wouldn’t be able to coach, I talked to (North Athletic Director Danny Cunningham) about keeping the kids engaged during the summer.”
Nate wanted to make sure one of the Hubs’ more promising teams stayed on course for the school and for his dad.
“I just wanted to keep the kids engaged and keep them in summer league,” Nate said. “I wanted to keep them working out with weights and stuff.
“Then some of the kids started talking, saying you should apply and get the job. That’s what I did. I applied. I got the job. Here we are.”
Track record
The Naylor name has fingerprints all over Washington County basketball.
One of Kevin’s stops was head coach at South Hagerstown before eventually taking over at North for 2022-23 season after Kevin Hartman resigned. Kevin spent 10 years at South (2007-17), including the three years when Nate coached the Rebels’ girls team.
Nate also coached girls basketball at Saint James School and in Frederick County.
After the baton passed from Naylor to Naylor, the Hubs have continued to progress. Through Dec. 18, North was undefeated in four games after some convincing victories and a couple of comeback scrambles to survive.
The change from coaching girls to boys had some stark difference, which Nate expected.
“In terms of coaching, I think it’s been similar,” he said. “I’ve been lucky to coach a lot of good girls teams where I was able to coach them the same way my dad did coaching the guys.
“Some of the differences with the boys are the crowds. They are larger and the start chanting things. I have to keep our kids focused to not engaged in that kind of stuff.”
And yet, preparation has its differences.
“You see a bit of that in terms of strength and the speed. That’s something we work on in the summertime,” Nate said. “Our girls are normally the fastest team in the county. Speed and quickness is something we’ve always worked on.
“It’s similar here. Everything happens a little faster in the boys game. When you beat your defender, the gap closes a little faster. You got to make a couple different moves. With guys, somewhere you are to run into someone who is more physical than you. You have to teach to find a way around that.”
Same, but different
Although they coach the same game, Nate admits this style of coaching is a bit different than his dad’s.
“My dad’s more of ‘we are going to do what we do and you have to stop us’ kind of guy,” Nate said. “I’m more ‘we are going to prepare and take away what you do.’ We prepare of each team differently.”
According to Nate, Kevin’s game is based on continuity. He’s objective was to get every player involved in the offense. Nate’s Hubs are living in the moment.
“We might want to isolate Joey (Dorsey) or Bray (Brayden Cespedes),” Nate said. “We might want to run something to get Tristan (Redick) or Jaden (Mbouna) a shot.
“We run a lot of quick hitters, but we also try to mix it. We want to have a motion offense where we are moving the ball. If someone has a chance to create or get to the rim, we give them the freedom.”
Dorsey and Cespedes are the leading scores and stat stuffers for the Hubs. The other players, have their roles – like Redick’s three-point shooting ability – that add to North’s diversity.
“My dad was more like ‘If you can figure out how to beat us, then you beat us.’” Nate said. “I’m a little more a little more involved with the kids structurally.
“If someone has a chance to create or get to the rim, we give them the freedom, but then we also want to have those quick hitters where if we want to get Bray or Joey the ball or get Tristan the ball in spots, we have that. That’s we’re it is a little bit different from last year to this year. We want to put people in position to get a good shot instead of passing the ball around looking for the good shot.”
Kevin, by the way, is OK with the alterations. In fact, he sits on North’s bench during games and joins the locker room strategy sessions.
The road ahead
A season consist of many twists and turns.
The Hubs have felt a few of them, even in the first few weeks of the season.
“We have a lot of things to clean up,” Nate said. “I felt like our last four or five practices (before the first game) we got better in each one. Our kids were very focused.
“They have bought into what we are trying to teach. As long as we stay on that path, we’ll be OK. But I always say you don’t really know about your team until you face that first bit of adversity. When we face that, that will tell us what we’re made of.”
And that’s when loyalty counts most.
