13 West Valley View, Avondale, Arizona, Friday, June 15, 2012
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Joe Babinski steps down at Desert Edge
by Casey Pritchard assistant sports editor
Joe Babinski has had a successful run with the Desert Edge boys basketball program, including this summer. However, that run is ending. After seven years leading the Scorpions, Babinski has accepted a position with Gilbert Perry High School as their boys basketball head coach. Wednesday was his last day with Desert Edge. “They offered too much,” Babinski said of Perry. “All
around it turned out to be a better situation. I hate that I’m leaving the kids because we’re so dang talented … That’s the negative to it.” In seven years, Babinski led the Scorpions to the
BASKETBALL
playoffs six times, including three semifinal appearances and one state championship. They averaged 21 wins per season.
Assistant coach Phillip Nowlin is also leaving, as he accepted a job as the athletic director at Verrado. That leaves last year’s JV coach, Brendan McEvoy, to take over for the rest of the summer while Desert Edge tries to find a new head coach. “We’re going to miss Joe, he’s not an easy guy to replace by any stretch of the imagination,” Desert Edge Athletic Director Ryan Ridenour said. “We’ve got our work cut out for us. We’re going to begin to work immediately and we hope to fill that position with someone special.”
hasn’t been working with the Desert Edge athletes this summer. In fact, the Scorpions have already played more than 20 games and are doing very well, having lost only three times. They won a home tournament June 8-9, and were runners-up at Youngker’s tournament the weekend before. Additionally, Desert Edge has been playing games as an Amateur Athletic Union team against quality competition. “We’re playing against, not high school teams, but
Although Babinski is leaving, that doesn’t mean he
AAU teams,” Babinski said. “It’s a combination of club teams. The team that beat us in the championship was a combination of four east side schools; got their best players together and formed an AAU group. They beat us, but our kids played extremely well. We’re really, really playing well.” Babinski had never put his team in the AAU setting before, but said almost everybody is doing it now, so he decided to jump in. “It’s better competition, and under the AAU guidelines you can do a lot more practice-wise and travel-wise,” he said. “It takes you from under the umbrella of high school.”
The summer success of Desert Edge can be credited to the hard work the athletes are putting in, Babinski said. Additionally, the Scorpions lost only three athletes from last year’s varsity squad, and their JV team went undefeated. “We’re talented; we’re as good as we’ve been,” Babinski said. “We should be vying for somewhere in state, pretty high up.” Chazz Wade and Ricky Whitehead are the two leading returning scorers from last year, at 8.7 and 8.0 points per game, respectively. They’ve picked up where they left off and are having a strong summer, Babinski said. “We’re just really athletic, going full court man to man and running the ball,” Babinski said. “One game we scored 67 points in the first half, and there’s a 20-minute running clock. We jumped all over them, they couldn’t get across half court. We played extremely well and shot the ball well, but that’s a lot of points to score in a summer game.”
Hopeful team Despite Babinski’s departure from Desert Edge, he feels good about its chances at success this year. “Desert Edge is strong and well,” he said. “We’re 10 deep and as talented as we’ve ever been. They’re maybe not as potent as that group that won state, but they can play. They should be good no matter who’s coaching
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DESERT EDGE COACH JOE BABINSKI exhorts his players from the sideline during a 2009 game. Babinski is leaving the Scorpions’ bench after seven years to take over the program at Perry High School.
them next year. I think the kids know how to win and have been winning.” Babinski’s biggest regret about going to Perry is having
to leave his players behind. “If I could take them all with me I’d be in heaven, but
obviously I can’t do that,” he said. Still, Babinski is pleased with what he was able to accomplish while at Desert Edge. “It was a good run, we’ve got good people at Desert Edge, it’s just the east side offers so much more than the west side for coaches,” he said.
Casey Pritchard can be reached by email at
cpritchard@westvalleyview.com.
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