Published: July 02, 2008 01:48 am            

Former Jeff hoops coach Broughton is new athletic director at Jennings Count

Since he started coaching basketball more than 30 years ago, Mike Broughton’s mentality has always been to chase down wins.

Now, since being hired as the new athletic director at Jennings County High School, it will be about chasing down bus drivers, game contracts and officials.

“I got to do everything (in coaching) that I wanted to do,” Broughton said. “After 31 years, my wife and I both decided it was time to do something else.”

So that something else will lead Broughton off the bench and into an office. Broughton spent the past five years as the head coach at NAIA Southern Nazarene, where he won conference coach of the year honors in 2008.

Broughton, who coached Jeffersonville to the 1993 state championship, said the job at Jennings County did follow a pattern suggested by hall of fame coach Virgil Sweet.

“He made a good comment that I’ve stayed with for 30 years,” Broughton said. “Coach in high school, try to win it. Once you win it, try college. Give that a shot and then once you’re done with everything, give back to the state.

“I’m on the giving back part. I’m here for the kids and I’m here for the coaches.”



LISTENING NOW

But he’s not at Jennings to be a coach, though Broughton did acknowledge he’d miss being on the sidelines at times.

“I told (new Panthers basketball) coach (Scott Holdsworth) that there’ll be times when I’m wandering through the gym and I’ll sit down,” Broughton said. “But I’m going to be plenty busy doing something different now.

“It’s just a different stage in my life, different than it was when I was chasing a state title and all that back in the day.”

So, he’ll be listening for advice, not giving it.

“It’s a new time and hopefully if anybody wants to listen, I’ll help them sometime,” Broughton said. “But right now, I want to listen. I would love to hear their needs right now and what we can do to help them.

“I’m going to have very few opinions right now. I’m going to listen and in 2008, what I did in the past is irrelevant.”



FRIEND NOW, NOT FOE

But that past is part of the reason that Broughton landed at Jennings.

He cited a strong relationship with JCHS principal Kendall Wildey, who faced Broughton’s Jeff teams several times as the Panthers’ boys’ basketball coach, as being a strong attraction to come as athletic director.

“I have a great deal of respect for Kendall,” Broughton said. “We were great friends when I was at (Jeffersonville).”

And count Wildey as one of Broughton’s biggest supporters.

“It’s amazing when you look at his résumé,” Wildey said. “He’s still got about 15 years to give, and he wants to do that here at Jennings.”

Even if Broughton does last 15 years, he still might not learn everything that outgoing Jennings County athletic director Steve Arnholt has to teach him.

“I wouldn’t have the confidence to walk into this job without that experience now,” said Arnholt, who will stay on in a part-time capacity next year to handle any questions. “Mike asked me the other day, ‘What are you going to do all day?’ and I said, ‘I’m only here to keep you sane.’”



ALL ABOUT PERSPECTIVE

Broughton has his own pupil to keep sane, too.

One of his former players, Adam Bohac, has taken over at Southern Nazarene.

“He’s 28. He’s looking at my job saying this is hard while I’m looking at this job saying this is hard,” Broughton said. “It’s all perspective.

“I saw one perspective of it as a basketball coach, but now you’re dealing with a lot more sports.”

It will also be a strange perspective walking right into the athletic facilities at Jennings County that are undergoing construction.

        

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