Howard Hart is an Idaho Falls alum and current Head Boys Varsity Basketball Coach at Idaho Falls High School. During his six seasons at the helm of IFHS, the Tigers have clinched three state tournament bids. The Tigers won the 2018-19 4A State Championship 66-57 over Preston. I’ve been blessed to be on the Tigers staff with Coach Hart for three seasons and am happy to call him my friend, mentor and co-worker.
Getting to where I am currently at has been a very rewarding journey. I started this journey by getting an opportunity to be a 9th grade assistant coach at the junior high that I played at, with Coach Steve Farner. He was my 9th grade coach at Clair E. Gale Junior High. I loved and learned so much from Coach Farner as a player and then had a great opportunity to learn from him in the coaching profession. He gave me a great opportunity to teach skills, treated me with respect, and trusted me. This had a big effect on me and I knew that in the future, when I had assistant coaches, I wanted to do the same for them.
My next opportunity I had was to be the head JV Girls coach at IFHS working with one of the great coaches in the state, Coach Norm Kane. My wife had been an assistant with Norm and head JV coach for three years. She gave birth to our first son and left the program. Norm had a position one year after he she left and Lisa was still working at IFHS so Norm asked her to come back. Lisa said she didn’t think she could do it yet but said she knew the person who could it and that was me. Norm agreed and hired me. I got Lisa to be my assistant. It was so much fun to coach with her. Norm was very successful and was always contending for district championships and going to the state tournament. One of the things he taught me was you need to help set expectations for your players and team and then hold them to that expectation. I still love to talk with Norm about all things including basketball strategy. He has a wealth of knowledge of the game and I learned so much from him. It is always so much fun to visit with him.
The next step came in a move to Bonneville High School where I would spend 7 years. I worked as the head JV and then as the assistant varsity coach for Todd Christensen. The school was also preparing to split, so this gave me an opportunity to help prepare two schools for future competition and gave me an opportunity to become the head varsity coach for one of the two schools. As it turned out I would get the head varsity position for Bonneville High School. There were some growing pains that came because of splitting the two schools talent, but the thing I was most proud of is that our teams always improved from the beginning of the season to the end of the season and the kids I coached were always giving the team everything they had. I learned that in many cases you could achieve more than what was expected. I also gained valuable lessons from coaching other sports during this time like girl’s softball and girls, boys and mixed tennis. Figuring out matchups in tennis helped me refine my thoughts in regards to matchups in basketball. Coaching any sport helps to give experience for the sport you love.
I moved my teaching career at this point to IFHS and thus had to start again shaping and refining my coaching skills. I took two positions and coached two seasons in one year as I coached the 9th grade girls in the fall and then the 9th grade boys in the winter. This turned out to be a very positive experience as both teams exceeded expectations and came together to play good team basketball.
IFHS then had an opening for a girl’s varsity position and I became the head varsity girl’s basketball coach. This was a new experience in the sense that you had the full attention of the girls who wanted to learn the game and didn’t already know everything and learning how to communicate in a different way than with the boys. Learning a balance of how to coach was taking place that would help in all future coaching responsibilities. In my 3rd season I had a heart attack during the year so that ended my coaching at that point but also maybe for future as well.
After spending time working hard to get healthy again I found an opportunity to go back and help at IFHS with Coach Darin Monk. I spent two years coaching the 9th grade boy’s team and 2 years as Coach Monk’s assistant. He gave me many opportunities to help very directly with his program. He always trusted me as a coach and treated me as an equal and an important part of bringing success back to the boys program. We talked about game plan, scouting and practice plans almost every day at lunch and would meet often for an hour or so on Sunday as well. We made it too state in our second year and Coach Monk gave me opportunities to help with our schedule while at state which would become valuable in the past few years in planning what we would do to give us the most success as we would travel to the state tournament 3 of the last 4 years.
The journey has now continued as the Head Varsity Basketball Coach the past 6 seasons at IFHS
2. What has it meant to you to coach at your alma mater?
Coaching at my alma mater has been a dream come true. I remember meeting Les Roh as a 7th grader and wanting so badly to play for him. I remember in high school I had a great love and passion for my school and the pride it represented. Coach Roh helped me to understand the love and passion on the basketball court. He had that love and passion not only as a coach but as a former player at IFHS. I learned as I began my coaching career, that I wanted to carry that same love and passion back to my school. It is also important to look at the coaching history at IFHS. Since Coach Roh, IFHS has also had Dave Erickson a former player/head coach and was my JV coach at IFHS. Darrin Monk was a player/head coach at IFHS and was an important piece of the 1988 state championship as a player and whom I helped for 4 years at IFHS. Watching my son play for IFHS and then come back and help me as an assistant for a season was a highlight. There are so many players who have worked so hard to carry on that love and passion over the history of IFHS with 11 state championships. I wanted to make sure we would carry on that tradition and to let the players who played for me carry on that love, passion and tradition. I love IFHS. It has helped shaped me as an individual, professionally as a teacher and as a coach. I have always wanted to give back to this great school and community.
3. You’ve coached Idaho Falls High School in the district championship 4 years in a row, winning two district titles and playing in the state tournament 3 out of the last 4 years. You led the Tigers to the 2019 state championship which ended a 31 year title drought at one of the winningest programs in Idaho. You’ve also posted back to back 20 win seasons. What are some of the keys to the sustained success?
Sustained success of IFHS has so many important parts to it and they all need to come together at the same time. I would say that having a great coaching staff is critical and I have been fortunate to have so many great assistants and coaches who run our JV program (James Resendez 6 seasons and Walter Gates) and Freshman program (Jason Ralph, Nate Hartman, David Vest, Dallan Parker and Val Rodell) . These coaches have built a strong foundation for the program and what we want to accomplish as this program has grown. They have been supportive and helpful in so many areas. I have been so fortunate to have 2 excellent assistant coaches Sean Powell and Nate Hartman who have shared the same vision of what a successful team would and should look like. Coaches, who have been willing to talk, prepare for season, practices, games and life skills for our student athletes. I love the enthusiasm that Nate brought to our program and love coaching (as I look at it side by side with him). He has such a great mind and passion for the game and I trust him with everything that we do. I believe our players know we are one in what we are doing and that helps them to be one in becoming a team.
You also need buy in of program by your players. We are constantly talking team first and roles that each can play for success. We try very hard to do team building activities throughout the season to build a team concept. Some of those things are team dinners, bowling practice instead of practice or a movie when we are on the road for an extended time. We even went on a tour of the Idaho State Supreme Court. These types of activities help to build the bond that is necessary for success on and off the court. Sometimes an extra challenge or reminder of our goals midseason and again just before we enter district tournament help to remind that each has committed to the buy in of our program and that it is important once again for everyone to do their part. I love and respect our players who tryout and are willing to commit to our program from November until March no matter their role. Sacrifice builds the bonds necessary for success. Without this bond there is very limited success at best.
Success builds success as well. Winning our first District Championship against Preston at Preston 4 years ago and going to the State Championship helped to set a standard for future teams. Winning 20 games, 15 of our last 16, a District Championship and then the Idaho 4A State Championship against the three time defending State Champions Preston in 2018-19 set a standard for the next season. The 2019-20 equaled the win total of the previous season 20 wins and gave a real shot at the state tournament again. Already the 2020-21 team has expectations that they want to carry on!
4. How have you successfully adjusted to different groups year after year at the high school level?
I believe you have to identify early the strengths and weaknesses of your personnel. I talk with my staff especially my varsity assistant about what those things are and begin building a plan of how we can help our team become as successful as possible. We knew that our 2019-20 team was going to be different (the moment we ended our 2018-19 season) than 2018-19 because of personnel. We needed to keep to our core principles but make sure we played differently because we were not the same team. An example is we had to play with more tempo in 19-20, versus we could play any style or tempo in 18-19. We emphasized execution for our teams and we worked very hard on that execution everyday day in practice. When you do this, that becomes who we are when it comes to game time. I think we have been good at communicating the strengths and what we want to become to maximize our success and our players have bought into the season game plan.
5. How have you evolved as a coach over your years spent in the industry? What has been the biggest challenge?
The biggest challenge at IFHS has been that we share so many student athletes with other sports we have had a tougher time putting together a real summer program. This has forced us to make the most of our regular season to get our team to bond and play as a team. It has also made it so our evaluations of player personnel have to be made much quicker because we don’t really see our potential full team together during the summer. The benefit for our team is that the players have been fully engaged throughout the regular, district and state season. Burn out of the game has been reduced and thus our progress throughout the season has been fun to watch.
I believe the thing I have improved on the most is adapting to the strengths and weaknesses of our teams and then adapting the style to those strengths. I have more trust in our players as I have grown, which has also cultivated more trust in our program and me. I have grown in knowledge of the game from my coaches and also the coaches we compete against. I still enjoy learning the game of basketball from others.
6. What’s been the biggest joy of your coaching career?
The biggest joy is the relationships I have built with the players, coaches and my family over the years. It is great to see the growth of the players during the year and then see future growth. It is amazing to visit with former players and see where there personal and professional lives have taken them and to also see the impact that their basketball experiences have played in their lives. I would also say that this experience has brought me closer with my wife, two sons, daughter and her family. I have loved the support they have given me and the opportunities it has given for incredible family discussions. It has allowed my family to know who I am in greater depth and for me to know each in greater depth.
It is also a joy to see teams reach their potential. I would have to say that a professional joy is the 4A State Championship in 2018-19. Words really cannot express the joy it brought the community, school and to me.
7. What advice would you give to young coaches at the high school level?
Advice: Be true to who you are and what you believe in. Use those you surround yourself with. Trust coaches and players. Each year is a new year. Make sure each team has their own identity. Pay attention to details and set expectations, but also let your players play to their strengths. Enjoy the journey!!! Continue to Learn!!!!
