Etten balances school, team

Friday, January 13, 2012

Staff photo by JOE MARCHILENA Cole Etten watches the Oyster River boys junior varsity basketball team during a game against Hollis Brookline last Friday. Etten, an HB graduate and a UNH student, is in his first year coaching the Bobcats' junior varisty team.

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Staff photo by JOE MARCHILENA Cole Etten watches the Oyster River boys junior varsity basketball team during the second half of a game against Hollis Brookline last Friday. Etten, an HB graduate and a UNH student, is in his first year coaching the Bobcats' junior varisty team.

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Staff photo by JOE MARCHILENA Cole Etten watches the Oyster River boys junior varsity basketball team during a game against Hollis Brookline last Friday. Etten, an HB graduate and a UNH student, is in his first year coaching the Bobcats' junior varisty team.

Enlarge

Cole Etten looked right at home Friday night in the Hollis Brookline High School gym.

And why wouldn’t he? The HB graduate spent three years there, playing varsity basketball for the Cavaliers.

But there was something different this time. Instead of a basketball uniform, Etten wore a blue shirt and khakis. And he was standing in front of the visitors bench, not the familiar HB bench.

And anyone who got close enough could see that blue shirt, no matter how much it looked like it, wasn’t a Cavalier blue. It was an Oyster River blue.

What was going on?

“It did feel a little weird, going to the other bench and going in the other locker room,” Etten said in between the junior varsity and varsity games between HB and Oyster River. “It’s fun being back where you played your high school career.”

Friday night wasn’t the first time Etten was in the HB gym since he finished high school, but it was the first time he’d been there as an opposing coach – he’s in his first season as the JV coach for the Bobcats, after serving as an assistant to varsity coach Stuart Mitchell a year ago.

On top of that, Etten is a full-time student at the University of New Hampshire in Durham, where he lives just a few minutes from Oyster River.

Etten was the third of three brothers to play basketball at HB, and both older siblings went on to play in college – Zach Etten at Babson College and Ben Etten at WPI. Cole Etten decided he wanted to do something different.

“That’s who he is,” said HB coach Mike Soucy, who coached Ben and Cole. “He’s always going to make his own way and he’s always going to be successful because he knows what he wants.”

When the younger Etten decided he wanted to try his hand at coaching at the high school level, he called Soucy for advice. His former coach gave him a few ideas, but one made the most sense.

“There are a couple of places he could have hooked up with,” Soucy said. “I said, ‘You’re right down the street from Oyster River, let me give them a call.’ I did and (Mitchell) picked him up. I think they’re pretty happy with him.”

Although he’s just a couple of years removed from his high school days, Etten feels that coaching the junior varsity gives him enough distance in age to successfully lead the team.

And while he does still get the itch to get on the court with his players, Etten knows coaching is what he ultimately wants to be doing.

“I always miss playing,” he said. “(Coaching) is a different experience. I’ve done summer camps, but never had coaching experience like this before. This is real-life experience out there. I’ve never had this, and it’s a good thing to have. I want to be a coach when I’m older, so this is definitely the right step forward for me.”

Soucy believes Etten is on the right track.

“He’s so much better than I was; it’s not even close,” Soucy said. “For him, he has a great family with a great history of basketball. His dad has so much knowledge and is such a great teacher, so he could lean on him.

“And he played. I wasn’t fortunate enough to make my high school team, so I didn’t have that experience. That’s invaluable. Not every great player is a great coach, but he’s able to be that and connect with the kids the right way and give them the discipline and the focus that they need.”

The biggest challenge for Etten has been the obvious one – balancing school and coaching.

So far, the two haven’t conflicted to the point he had to choose one over the other, and if it were to happen, it’d be a tough choice.

“Hopefully it’s basketball and there’s nothing big in class that I miss,” Etten said, after a long pause, when asked which he’d pick.

“I went over everything (with Mitchell) before I came on board. It hasn’t been a problem yet, (but) if it’s a big game, I’d have to.”