McGary’s way has Howard on highway to state success

Walter McGary reluctantly pulled out the newspaper clippings a few days ago. Seems his Howard School basketball team couldn’t believe their slow-walking, slow-talking, gray-haired coach was one of the finest players in University of Tennessee at Chattanooga history.

So he showed them a few stories concerning the guy Mocs maniacs once hailed as “Moose.” They could read about all those times he posted double-doubles in points and rebounds at least a decade before anyone even uttered the phrase “double-double.”

“I can only remember one game I didn’t,” he said Tuesday afternoon. “We played at West Florida. I think got one point and 19 rebounds.”

McGary could have told them he’s been in the UTC Hall of Fame since 1992. He could have told them some folks believe he’s the guy who started the magic under Ron Shumate, whose manic Mocs crested Rocky Top in 1977 with the Division II title three years after Moose finished his career.

He could have told them all those things a thousand times over these past three winters at Howard, but he didn’t. He never said the first word about his career until a few days ago because, well, in the words of Hustlin’ Tigers senior guard Darius Ricks, “Coach doesn’t like to brag on himself.”

What he does like to do is call on those experiences as a UTC player now that he’s the Howard coach. McGary is especially fond of repeating those bits of wisdom with which Shumate peppered his players in the early 1970s, when he was building the foundation for the championships that would follow.

“We were at Dayton one night,” McGary said. “They had this incredible shooter, Mike Sylvester. Coach Shumate decides we’re going to go zone against them. Sylvester hits five shots in a row and Coach calls time. He tells us to stick with it, that the zone will work. Sylvester hits three or four more and Coach still wants to stay in the zone. So at the next break I tell the guys, ‘We’re playing man.’ We go out and score like 20 straight points and get back in the game. I was feeling great.”

Shumate was feeling betrayed. He called a timeout. He pointed to McGary and the rest of the culprits and told them to head for the bench, that they were done for the night. Later, inside a somber Mocs locker room following the 87-62 loss, Shumate pointedly proclaimed, “It’s my way or the highway.”

Now fast-forward to the autumn of 2005. After more than 15 years of coaching middle school basketball at Alton Park/Franklin, McGary becomes the Howard coach. Before him stands a once-proud program fallen on tough times.

Recalling the demeanor of Shumate; his famed high school coach, Cap Brown, at Parker in Birmingham, Ala.; and others, the 57-year-old McGary decided tough love was the easiest way to turn around the Tigers.

“All the really great coaches have that discipline,” he said. “I wanted them to understand that when they play basketball here, they don’t just represent themselves. They represent the school, their families and the community.”

Case in point: Didn’t McGary have an Afro during his UTC playing days?

“Yes, I did,” he said.

Do you let the Hustlin’ Tigers wear Afros?

“No, I don’t,” he said, grinning.

Pants hung so low that the players’ underwear showed also were now out. So, too, funky hair. Dress shirts and neckties would be worn to school on game days. If your academics dipped below McGary’s standards — which have always been higher than the school’s — you didn’t play. And if you missed a layup with nobody guarding you, it was time to hit the floor and give the coach 100 push-ups.

“We had about 100 kids come out for basketball my first year,” Moose said. “About 40 came out this year. It’s not for everybody.”

But the winning has been. Howard will play in its second straight state tournament when it meets Bolivar Central in the Class AA event Thursday in Murfreesboro. It marks the 21st state tourney overall for the Tigers, who have yet to win a state crown.

“The alums are always talking about that part,” said forward Dominique Harper. “They just want us to make history.”

As for McGary’s dress code, Harper said, “It’s the right thing to do,” then pointed to the NBA. “Look at the pros. They have to dress up to come to their games. Everything we do is a positive.”

A few minutes later, Ricks was asked if McGary has any favorite sayings.

Without hesitation he answered: “Coach likes to say, ‘My way or the highway.’”