Humphrey has experience

Jay Humphrey calls being head boys basketball coach at West Valley his dream job. And, he insists, he tried hard to make sure it didn’t become open.

After a season as an assistant coach for the Eagles, Humphrey replaces longtime friend Jamie Nilles, who stepped down after 11 seasons as head coach and four more as an assistant at West Valley.

“I tried to talk him out of it,” Humphrey said. “He told me he was thinking about doing this last summer after I decided to come join him. I told him to give me more things to do, to let me take some of the load off.”

It didn’t work. After fashioning a 205-70 record as a head coach, Nilles stepped down and Humphrey was named his successor.

“I do understand what he’s going through,” Humphrey said. “He wants to spend time watching his daughter, Shaniqua.”

Perhaps the first inkling that Nilles’ attention was divided came the night of the Great Northern League championship basketball games. As West Valley, led by the coach’s daughter, upset Pullman to clinch the league title and a state tournament berth, Nilles could be seen peeking out of the locker room where his Eagles were preparing to face Clarkston.

“That wasn’t typical Jamie that night,” Humphrey said. “Normally we’d be in there talking to our players and getting them ready to play. But you could tell that he wanted to be there for his daughter, too.

“You don’t get a second chance to do something like that. I know.”

Humphrey understands his friend’s need for family time. He made the same move himself.

The son of Hall of Fame boys basketball coach Denny Humphrey, Jay was a successful high school coach in his own right. In five seasons at North Central he coached two district teams and one regional qualifying team and earned a share of a Greater Spokane League title in 1992. In six seasons at University, he led the Titans into the Class 4A Regional tournament in 1997.

In the 11 seasons since he stepped down as a head coach, he worked as an assistant coach at Community Colleges of Spokane and at Shadle Park, where his son, Zach, was a standout player. All the while, he said, he looked forward to a return to the sidelines as a head coach.

With his daughter, Jenna, preparing for her senior year at Shadle Park, Humphrey began to think more seriously about just such a move.

“The timing isn’t entirely ideal,” he said. “But my daughter isn’t all that disappointed – I think I intimidate her a little bit when I’m in the stands. I’m not a yeller or anything like that, but I think I make her uncomfortable.”

Nilles and Humphrey have been friends for some 15 years, he said. Not only are their coaching philosophies closely aligned, they play the game the same way, Humphrey said.

“We used to play pick-up games together and we used to go at each other pretty good,” he said. “There was a night where Jamie got a cut on his scalp and was pretty bloody, but he stayed in the game. Then he caught me with an elbow and got me all bloody, but I stayed in the game.

“After a while we figured out that we needed to be on the same team. It was a lot more fun that way.”

Nilles tried unsuccessfully over the years to lure his friend onto his coaching staff.

“He was always calling me up and asking me to come out and be his assistant,” Humphrey laughed. “But I knew what he wanted more than that was to get Zach to come play for him, so I kept turning him down.”

Once Zach graduated, Humphrey made the jump and joined his friend last summer.

“It really worked,” he said. “Jamie’s defensive philosophy is my defensive philosophy. The offense he runs is the offense I like to run.

“People keep asking me if I’m going to change things. The answer is no. There may be a few tweaks here and there, but for the most part, I don’t plan to change anything.”

After two stints coaching in the GSL, Humphrey said the fit is right at West Valley and the Great Northern League.

“I think this is the right level to work at,” he said. “I’ve got kids who play three sports. This summer I have kids trying to balance playing summer basketball with playing baseball and with football camps.

“Don’t get me wrong – I love it when kids play more than one sport. I think it makes for a more well-rounded athlete. But at the same time, it takes a little more work.”

Still, he said, he’s not picking up a lot of support at home.

“I offered Zach a West Valley T-shirt the other day,” he laughed. “He turned me down. I think he’s still going to wear his Shadle T-shirts. I haven’t tried offering one to my daughter.”