Shulmans enjoying togetherness with McCallie basketball team

McCallie basketball coach John Shulman directs players during the Tornadoes' basketball game against Centennial at Girls Preparatory School on Saturday, Dec. 17, 2016, in Chattanooga, Tenn.
McCallie basketball coach John Shulman directs players during the Tornadoes' basketball game against Centennial at Girls Preparatory School on Saturday, Dec. 17, 2016, in Chattanooga, Tenn.
photo McCallie senior Max Shulman prepares to shoot a free throw during the Blue Tornado's game against Centennial at GPS on Saturday. McCallie, coached by Shulman's father, is the defending boys' champion of the Best of Preps tournament that begins Wednesday.

TIMES FREE PRESS BEST OF PREPS TOURNAMENT

Wednesday’s schedule at Chattanooga State10 a.m.—Baylor girls vs. Central; 11:30 a.m.—Notre Dame girls vs. Tyner; 1—GPS vs. Soddy-Daisy; 2:30—Red Bank girls vs. Arts & Sciences; 4—Baylor boys vs. Tyner; 5:30—Brainerd boys vs. Soddy-Daisy; 7—Meigs County boys vs. Arts & Sciences; 8:30—Central vs. McCallie.

Max Shulman plans to savor every moment of his senior basketball season at McCallie, even if his father, John, is close by. Or perhaps it's especially because his father is close by.

McCallie won the boys' portion of the Times Free Press Best of Preps tournament last year and again will be one of the eight competing for this year's title. Games will take place Wednesday through Friday at Chattanooga State.

After John Shulman and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga mutually agreed to part ways in March 2013 after he spent nine seasons there as men's basketball coach, the family had some decisions to make. Max, the oldest of the Shulmans' three boys, persuasively made one of them.

"He said, 'Dad, I don't want to leave McCallie,'" John said.

Max started there in sixth grade and at the time was about to be a freshman.

"It's all I've ever known," Max said. "There's something special about this place. It's different. It's all guys. I got used to it, and I loved it."

As fate would have it, Dan Wadley decided to resign after eight years as head basketball coach at McCallie in February 2014. A month later, John accepted an offer to take the position.

"It was never a dream of mine," John said of coaching his son. "I take great pride and great joy in being a dad. But I never even considered wanting to coach my children. I just wanted to enjoy them."

Max couldn't play his sophomore year because of a herniated disk in his back. Last year was his first playing for, and getting reacquainted with, his dad.

"Most of his childhood I was spending time with other kids," John said, referring to the college players he was around. "I remember being gone, phoning the gym, getting a play-by-play of what was going on. The last three years I've been playing catch-up."

John gives credit to wife Amy (nee Engle), a former sharpshooter at East Tennessee State University where the couple met, for being the 6-foot-4 Max's coach in the early years.

"She was a good player in her day at ETSU," Max said. "I'd say I got my shot from her - my size and my shot. I got my knowledge from him, and my skills from her."

The Blue Tornado have a trip coming up to Bristol, Tenn., to compete in the famed Arby's Classic, before getting heavily into Division II-AA East/Middle Region play when the calendar flips over. But the Best of Preps tournament is the next step and foremost on Max's mind.

"It's a lot of fun," he said. "Being in our division we don't play a lot of local games against teams from around here. This is our chance. It's always a great crowd. It brings out the best in you when you play good teams and play in front of that big stage. The Best of Preps is about as good of an atmosphere as it gets. There's a lot of buzz about it."

And John's decision was influenced by more than just Max this time.

"My first year here at McCallie I thought we were going to be really bad," the coach said. "I thought, 'We've got to get better,' so I took them way out of town to Pigeon Forge. I thought I was going to have a rebellion. We were in a big tournament in Pigeon Forge, and all the kids wanted to do was go home and watch the Best of Preps. They had their phones out, texting back and forth with people here.

"All of them wanted to be in it, so the next year we got in it. To say we're excited to play in the Best of Preps is an understatement. The kids can't wait."

Contact Kelley Smiddie at ksmiddie@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6653. Follow him on Twitter @KelleySmiddie.

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