Reg Carrick doesn't count the medals when asked to sum up his coaching career. He has more important things on his mind.
Carrick just ended his sixth and final season as head coach of Olds College's women's basketball team. He finished with a 97-75 win over the Medicine Hat College Rattlers on Feb. 27 but finished tied with the SAIT Trojans in the standings, without the tiebreaker, and missed the playoffs.
Under Carrick, the Broncos have flourished: ACAC gold in 2013, advancing to the CCAA national tournament, winning bronze. In 2015, they won a provincial bronze. Their regular season ACAC record stands at 49-36.
Post-game, he was upbeat and at ease with his decision to walk away from the sport that introduced him to so many people.
"Fun. Fun, and like I said before the game, these kids mean more to me than the championship does. It's so special. We had a whole bunch of kids who sat on the bench from that (2013) team and it meant so much to me that they cared enough to come back for my final game.
“And I had two guys sitting up in the stands from when I first started coaching back in 1995. I was coaching single-A boys basketball in Bashaw, Alberta. These guys heard it was my last game and came. Those relationships are so much more special – I'll never remember the scores in any of these games and who did what. I'll always remember these kids."
Over the years, he had recruited several American players who stepped in and dominated the league, from Jylisa Williams, Carmen Deal, Renetha Burton, Jasmine Williams, Marie Lupe, Danesia Williamson, to the latest, Brianna Scott and Ronika Ransford. He's coached four All-Americans.
Many were those who had trouble academically and needed help regaining athletic eligibility, he said.
"I've had the good fortune of getting lots of help. I coached in the States for about 12 years and made a lot of friends and contacts down there. Always bugging them, ‘keep your eyes out' and so forth," he said. "Those relationships were absolutely key when coaching small college."
However, he also developed less heralded, domestic talent.
"For me, I came from a tiny little school. I didn't have a lot of programs looking at me. Him giving me an opportunity to come and play was awesome and has improved me as a player and a person. I've learned a lot from him," said guard Sierra Harty, from Milk River.
Broncos athletics director Bob Murray said Carrick's legacy will be taking a program that once played in a small college league (ACAL) and building it into one that competes with the best schools across the country.
The job has been posted and Murray expects a successor by April.
"We definitely want a teammate, a leader, one who will be able to recognize what Olds College is all about, what Broncos athletics is all about. Probably some history (with) the CCAA and the ACAC, if that would be possible, that'd be great. We're just looking for somebody to lead young women to become better women," he said.
If there was ever a reminder of what really mattered to Carrick over the years, it came in late February when the Rattlers visited Olds for two games.
On Feb. 24, the Rattlers' Megan Kondor, a first-year nursing student from the Town of Vauxhall had passed away in Foothills Hospital, succumbing to injuries from a single-vehicle rollover earlier that week. She was 18.
Just two days later, on the Friday, with Medicine Hat College battling Olds College for the final playoff spot in the ACAC South, the Rattlers clinched their berth at the Ralph Klein Centre in Carrick's penultimate game, winning 77-66. Afterward, all four teams from both schools — men and women — held a moment of silence in Kondor's memory.
"We had such a heavy heart and I really commend them for rallying their kids and getting them on the bus and trying to make things as normal as they could. I don't know if I would have been strong enough to do that had we lost one of these kids. I love our kids so much," Carrick said.
Carrick plans to spend more time with his family. He's staying in town and on campus, taking on a new job as service manager of facilities.
"As of right now, I've got a growing little family. I've got four kids at home and they need coaching. They also need parenting. They've sacrificed a lot over the years. I've taken enough time away from them. It's time to start (making) up to them. I think I'll dabble in it and I'm happy to help but as far as seeing me (coaching) full-time again, I don't think so."
Just this past week, he was spotted on Olds High School senior boys coach Tom Christensen's bench in their league final. Carrick's son Carter plays on the team.
For another night, that same raspy bark that basketball people in this town have grown familiar with was audible. Turns out you can't bounce him from the game completely.
"Fun, and like I said before the game, these kids mean more to me than the championship does." REG CARRICK, head coach, OC women's basketball
