After five years as the Rolla head coach, which included a quarterfinal berth in the state playoffs in his final season, Luke Floyd decided to step away from coaching after the 2018-19 season to spend more time with his family. It didn’t take long for Floyd to miss what he loved doing—coaching basketball.
“When basketball season started last year,” Floyd said with a laugh when asked when he realized he wanted to get back into coaching. “I enjoyed being a dad and watching my kids play, but at the same time, when it’s all that I have ever done in my adult life, I was really missing it.”
After one season away from the game, Floyd was hired by Joplin in the spring to do what he had done at several other stops in his career, including at Rolla, to turn around a struggling program and transform it into a competitive one.
“I sat down and talked with (my family) about me being interested in (coaching) again,” Floyd said. “It had to be a perfect fit because our kids are older and we didn’t necessarily want to move. When we came down to do an interview with Joplin, they included my entire family, which really meant a lot to me. … We sat down, discussed it and decided if I was offered the opportunity that we all would be on board with moving here.
“I was familiar with Joplin from when I was at Rolla. When they were in the Ozark Conference, anytime we played them they were always well coached and played hard. When I saw that they had an opening, I thought I would throw my name into the pile and just happened to get hired. It’s been really good for both myself and my family. It is a great school district, academic-wise, and athletically, I think we have the potential to build something special.”
In Floyd’s first year with Rolla, the Bulldogs didn’t win a game. In his final season at the helm, Rolla finished the season with a 24-4 record and won a share of the Ozark Conference title before winning a district championship and making a run to the Class 4 quarterfinal round. Floyd earned co-conference coach of the year honors and was named the Missouri Media Class 4 Girls Basketball Coach of the Year.
“We had good kids,” Floyd said. “They worked hard every day. We didn’t have much success. I think in my third year, we had a really good freshman class that had had previous success and we sat down as a coaching staff and decided we were going to move the ones who were ready straight varsity.
“We took our lumps that first year with them and won about eight games. Then, halfway through their sophomore year, it clicked and we started firing on all cylinders. That year we went to the district championship and got beat. That summer leading up to my last season, we just had a feeling that it was going to be a special group.They had gone through the process … and above all else, they were willing to sacrifice personal things for the good of the team.”
Now, Floyd — who has a 289-192 career record as a head coach — takes over a Joplin program coming off a two-win season in 2018-19 and a 4-22 record a year ago. It will certainly be a process to turn the program around. But like Rolla, which went winless in Floyd’s first season, he sees a lot of success on the horizon for the Eagles if they are willing to put in the dedication it takes.
“It takes the players,” Floyd said. “It’s nothing special that myself or any other coach does. We just have to have the players who want to play. I think even this year that we have the pieces to go out this year and compete. Our biggest hurdle that we need to overcome is our mindset that we are capable of winning. When you are in a program that hasn’t had a lot of success, it’s hard to overcome that.”
The Eagles starting five this season is sophomore guard Brynn Driver, sophomore guard Isabella Yust, junior guard Brooke Nice, junior forward Emma Floyd and junior forward Ella Hafer.
Floyd plans on playing nine or 10 deep in terms of rotation players. The Joplin reserves consist of sophomores Serafina Auberry (f) and Jill McDaniel (g), seniors Lily Pagan (g) and Jacie Jensen (g) and freshman guard Bailey Ledford.
“Our whole varsity squad will play 10 of 15 minutes each,” Floyd said. “We’re trying to get the girls to buy into them going out and playing hard for three-minute stretches, and then we get some fresh legs in there to keep coming at people.
“I want to see girls who are going to go out there and just compete. If you’re the most-talented player in our system but don’t work hard, you aren’t going to get as many minutes as someone who busts their butt for us. We are trying to promote that, and the fact it is going to take eight, nine or 10 of us to play well.”
Floyd plans to have his Eagles push the ball in transition as often as the game allows it with the idea to create high-percentage looks at the rim. Joplin will also run a motion-hybrid offense when facing man-to-man defense, focusing on ball movement while on offense.
“We encourage our girls to be ready to catch and shoot at all times,” Floyd said. “We like the outside shot, but we always preach to get the ball inside before kicking it out for the 3. With Emma, Ella and Serafina, we have some girls inside who can finish. So, anytime we can get the ball in the paint, that is a good thing for us. … We are trying to get the girls to realize what they are good at, and get better at that instead of making them do more than they are capable of.”
Defensively, the focus for the Eagles will focus on playing man-to-man defense with an emphasis on using the press when the situation calls for it.
“We are really working on ball pressure and jumping passing lanes,” Floyd said. “If we get beat, we just have to trust that our teammates are going to be there to help. We told the girls that defense always travels. There may be some nights where we can’t throw it into an ocean, but you should always be able to play defense and rebound.”
The biggest adjustment Joplin will need to make is just getting comfortable with the new systems installed. It is going to take experience to find the right rhythm and timing, but Floyd is encouraged by what he has seen so far.
“We are learning how to get the ball down the floor in a hurry,” Floyd said. “That has been an adjustment for us because we still want to walk it up and go to the middle of the floor. I think that is going to continue to improve. … A lot of times, we are just a tick late (on making a play), which may lead to a bad pass or a turnover. As a coach, it’s encouraging because they are seeing what we need to be doing. That is also only going to get better as the season progresses.”
Joplin opens the season tonight with a road matchup at Cassville at 7 p.m.
“We are extremely excited,” Floyd said. “Getting to go to Cassville and getting play for real under the gym lights is going to be fun. … If we can compete and give our best effort, we definitely have a shot.”
