Eminence boys basketball coach Pete McBride is stepping down as the head coach of the Redwings after 23 years. He will remain at the school as principal.
The timing for the move was right for McBride with his oldest son Trent graduating this spring and moving on to play basketball for C of O.
“The biggest factor is Trent is going to continue playing basketball in college. I want to get to follow that and watch him. I would be cheating myself and my family if I didn’t try to support him as much as I could at this point in his career,” McBride said.
McBride finishes his career with two state championships and an overall record of 397-237. Success didn’t come right away when McBride became head coach in 1996, as the path to consistent winning took of few years.
“I think as you start a career you are always naïve to think that things are going to be easy and you will achieve all these great things, but I got humbled pretty fast,” McBride said. “We went for like five years before we were ever .500. I lost my first 13 games as a varsity coach, so you get humbled pretty fast in this business. Over the long haul winning a couple state championships was a dream come true.”
“It has just been a wonderful community to coach in through ups and downs. Most guys don’t get the chance to have some losing seasons and have some down (years) and still survive in the coaching world today,” McBride said. “I have been lucky to be at a place that let me get the program to where it needed be.”
The last four years have been special for McBride as he got the chance to coach his son and players that he had been around since they were young.
“I have been close with all my players throughout the years, but this group (was special) as a parent of a kid in the 2019 group I had coached this group in tee ball, little league and everything. I have been close to this group since they were five or six years old,” McBride said. “Getting to be a part of all that with Trent was amazing, but the teammates he was on the floor with were like family to me too. That was special being with the whole group.”
Eminence went 89-31 over the past four years that included a 32-1 record and a Class 1 State Championship in 2018.
McBride is stepping away from coaching for now, but he did not close the door on returning to the sidelines sometime in the future.
“Coaching is pretty heavy in my blood so I am never going to say never, but at this point that is not anything I am thinking about,” McBride said.
