Coach Steve Washburn, now in his second season as Head Basketball Coach at Powhatan High School, graduated from PHS in 1989. He received his undergraduate degree from Radford University in 1993. Coach Washburn served simultaneously as the assistant coach for the girl’s basketball team and the boy’s JV coach in his first three years at PHS. He served as JV coach for seven years. Coach Washburn is 36 years old and teaches history at Powhatan High School.

Question: You once described yourself as a player who never saw a shot he didn’t like. How do you describe yourself as a coach?

Answer: I know its cliché but I really do feel I am a player’s coach. I want my players to work hard and know that I will work hard for them. I want them to know how much I care for them.

Q: How would your own high school coach describe you?

A: Ken Nichols coached me at Powhatan and I think he would say I got the most out of my limited skills, understood the game and how to play it.

Q: What is the most important characteristic you look for in a basketball player?

A: The desire to give me your best every single day. If you work hard every day we will make you better.

Q: What can you actually teach a player at this level?

A: Fundamentals of course, but we spend more time doing situational coaching; setting up game situations and teaching the kids how to react. We spend 45 minutes of every practice drilling fundamentals and the other hour and fifteen minutes in game situations. You can absolutely teach them to think.

Q: What is the most important factor in team success?

A: The ability to adapt. To handle and learn from both winning and losing. A strong character that can finish games in the fourth quarter.

Q: Can you recall when you first saw that in last year’s District Championship team?

A: Absolutely. It was at Greeville. We were losing by seven with around two minutes left and I called a timeout. In the huddle I told the kids we were O K and were going to find a way to win and then I stepped away. Cory Jones and Mike DeLeon took over and I could tell by the look in their eyes they truly believed they would win. Luke Myers sank a free throw with seconds, or it might have been with no time, left to win it.

Q: Is talent more important than attitude?

A: You can’t underestimate what talent can do for a team, but you need character guys to balance it.

Q: Your team put together an 18-5 record and went to the Regionals for the first time in ten years last season. How does this year’s team’s expectations compare?

A: The district championship is a goal but their expectations are, justifiably, higher. I think they really want to do better than last year. But I don’t gauge success in wins and losses. The key to me is how we react to adverse situations and who steps up.

Q: What would be a fantasy year for you?

A: I used to think it was about winning the ultimate championship and while that is still important, it has changed over the past couple of years. I’d love to be the first state basketball champion at PHS, but if the program develops a winning tradition like the football and baseball programs have I’ll be pleased.

Q: What do you demand of yourself?

A: I’m my own worst critic and overly competitive. I have two older brothers and I guess I just grew up competing against them. And I still do.

Q: What does your wife, Kim, tell you?

A: What else? I’m too hard on myself. To enjoy the wins more. Enjoy the season for what it is. Enjoy the time I have to spend with the guys. She’s one of the greatest people I’ve ever met and really understands the balancing act.

Q: Who would be your first pick to anchor your fantasy basketball team? (Coach Washburn put almost a half hour of thought into this question until finally conceding it would have to be two).

A: That is such a hard question. You immediately think of Michael Jordan or Wilt Chamberlain but ultimately for me it would have to be either Magic Johnson or Larry Bird. They were both so unselfish, dedicated to the game. They were true team leaders who made every one around them better.

Q: The current team is three and zero. Have they been tested?

A: No. We have not faced that first adverse situation where we had to find a way to respond in order to win.

Q: Where is the fun in coaching high school basketball?

A: Working with the guys, of course, but in-game adjustments is the thing that makes coaching so much fun. Making the changes during the course of the game is what I love to be able to do.