Daily Dad News

Michigan Basketball Coach Guides Daughter, Trio Of Cousins To Championship Dreams

March 13, 2012

Image: Sara Winkler

In Michigan, Concord High School basketball coach Jeff Redman and his journey of guiding his girls basketball team to the Class C state tournament was nearly a seamless one. Formerly a basketball hobbyist, coach Redman found himself coaching his daughter and a trio of cousins while the group was in fourth grade. After splitting from the girls during middle school for high school coaching, Redman has been calling plays for Concord since 2007, with the team playing in one of the biggest games of their career.

Redman’s daughter, Megan, and the cousins Andrea, Julayne and Maycee Bingham are all playing tonight in the quarterfinals for the state. Concord has gone undefeated this season, after some struggles to get back to their winning ways. “When I first took over as head coach in 2007, we went 6-15 and then 0-21 in our second year,” Redman said to the Jackson Citizen Patriot. “I honestly questioned myself if I could really do this at that point.”

Redman admits to being a little tough on Megan, and his daughter certainly agreed. “I was always tough on her, and of course a coach’s daughter always gets the bad end of it,” Redman said. “But this year it’s been a lot different from the standpoint that I have given her some more room. Megan added, “It has its ups and downs definitely. You get treated differently in a harsher way, but it’s still good for you.”

Coach Redman may be tough, but he does preach the value of teamwork overall, even with his daughter and the Bingham cousins getting a good number of the minutes. “Even if you get in only a minute or two, you are just equally a part of this. The girls out on the floor wouldn’t be where they are now without the other girls pushing them in practice and making them better” he said.

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