photography / Troy Boman Shane Heath will take over the reigns as the new basketball coach at Grantsville. He has spent the last four years coaching J.V. and freshman basketball for the Cowboys.

by Mark Watson

SPORTS EDITOR

Grantsville High School's new basketball coach will not need much time learning about potential players at the school. Shane Heath already has spent four years coaching junior varsity and freshmen basketball teams for the Cowboys.

Grantsville High officials named Heath the new varsity basketball coach last week after looking through 13 applications and interviewing about six candidates.

"I like they way Shane works with kids. I like his temperament; he is fair and and has an excellent demeanor with the kids. He has a temperament similar to Larry Sandberg's," said prinicipal Travis McCluskey.

"Shane can get excited when he needs to, but he keeps things under control. He already knows the kids in the school," the principal added.

Grantsville athletic director Pat Ciervo said that Heath deserves the job.

"He has been here for four years and during that time has been a very strong supporter of our athletic teams," Ciervo said. "He has earned the right to have this great opportunity."

Heath coached the freshmen basketball team last year and the junior varsity team his first three years at the school.

"I know a lot of these kids having worked with Larry the last four years. We have a lot of players with experience coming back next year," Heath said.

The new coach mentioned Austin Gumucio, Alex Childs, Cody Colson, Reggie Roberts and Jackson Kelly.

"We don't have anybody over 6 feet 2 inches, but these kids have some speed. Cody and Reggie were starting to get a lot of playing time late last season and they performed well. Reggie's a great shooter and we have some good jumpers," Heath said.

"We'll want to push the ball, but not push it and take a bad shot. If we don't have a good shot we'll bring it back out and play a half-court game."

The new coach said he would like to improve the communication among players while they are on the floor.

"Nowadays with this text messaging I don't think kids learn to talk to each other, but it's very important on the basketball floor to be able to communicate as a team. Be loud if you need to and know the tendencies of your teammates," Heath said.

"I think it is important for kids to understand their role on the team whether it be shooter, rebounder or assist man. They have to come to grips with what they can do well with what they don't do as well. If you're not a scorer you have to come to grips with that. Of course scoring is important, but if a team can win the rebounding and assists battles and play tough defense they're going to win games."

The coach wants varsity players to be in the gym competing in the summer.

"We'll go to some summer camps and we want to have a lot of open gym this summer. We also want to have an individual camp here in Grantsville with the varsity players working with kids fourth-grade and up. During the summer they'll have football in the morning and if they have enough energy they can play basketball later in the day," Heath said.

"We need to change our attitudes a bit. It needs to be a big thing to be named to the varsity basketball team. I think in the past the players have just felt good to be selected and that's about as far as it went. They need to play hard and not take playing for the high school team for granted. I want them to be excited and have fun."

Heath played basketball and soccer at Timpview and said while growing up it was exciting to see a member of the varsity team around town or be able to go to a summer camp and be tutored by a member of the varsity team. "It was a big deal to me as a kid, and I think that is the way it should be here in Grantsville. It should mean something to be part of the varsity team," he said.

Heath graduated from Timpview in 1994, went to Utah Valley State College for two year and graudated from Southern Utah Univeristy. He coached for three years at Canyon View High School as a basketball assistant.

He is married to Grantsville volleyball and softball coach Heidi Heath whom he met while attending UVSC. The couple have been married for nine years. Both graduated from Southern Utah University.

"We both plan to be here at Grantsville as long as they want us," Heath said. "Heidi's a small-town girl from Delta and really likes the kids at Grantsville. We take our jobs home a bit. It's good to get another coach's point of view. We offer each other suggestions all the time; sometimes we try those suggestions -- sometimes not."

mwatson@tooeletranscript.com