![](/sites/default/files/imported/Photos/170106_Hillman_2H.jpg)
Hillman Becomes Basketball Town, Too
January 6, 2017
By Dennis Chase
Special for Second Half
HILLMAN – Eric Muszynski still remembers that day in 2005 when, as the newly appointed boys basketball coach at Hillman, he made a promise to the man who hired him, administrator Jack Richards.
As they gazed at the banners in the school gymnasium – highlighted by the school’s three MHSAA Class D championships in baseball – Muszynski vowed to add some basketball banners to the collection.
“He (Richards) chuckled,” Muszynski recalled. “He said, ‘Try to get to .500 first.’”
Historically, Hillman’s been a baseball town. The Tigers played for MHSAA championships four times in six years during the 1990s.
“Basketball was something you did to stay in shape for baseball,” said Richards, who went on to serve as superintendent for five years. “Eric’s turned that around.”
Since 2009, Hillman has won four North Star Conference basketball championships, five Districts and one Regional. The Tigers stretched their regular-season win streak to 44 after Thursday night’s 68-38 victory over Mio. Their last regular-season loss was to Cedarville in the 2014-15 opener.
Quite a turnaround for a program that had won only one league title prior to Muszynski’s arrival.
“And that wasn’t an outright title,” senior guard Gunnar Libby said.
Libby, a first-team Associated Press all-state pick last season, is the catalyst for this 5-0 Tigers team. A four-year varsity veteran, Libby has played a vital role in the program’s growth. Hillman won its first outright league title when he was a freshman, captured its first Regional crown when he was a sophomore, and posted its first unbeaten regular season when he was a junior.
“I’ve been really lucky to play on some good teams,” he said.
The turnaround did not happen overnight. The Tigers were 10-32 in Muszynski’s first two years.
“I remember thinking to myself, ‘Will we ever get over that hump?’” Muszynski wondered.
His boss stood by him.
“I had some people come to my office, saying he wasn’t the guy for the job,” Richards said. “I told them, ‘Settle down. This guy will bring us championships.’ Eric heard me, and he took it to heart. He worked hard to prove me right.”
In his third season, Muszynski led Hillman to an 11-10 mark. From there, the program took off.
“It’s been truly amazing,” the former Alpena High School standout said. “As a coach, you envision and hope that your program can do big things. We’ve been in that conversation – of trying to get down to East Lansing (for the Final Four) – since 2013 when we almost upset Cedarville (a double overtime loss) in the Regional Final.”
Hillman, sparked by Mason VanPamel and Ty Jones, reached the Quarterfinals in 2015 before losing to eventual champion Powers North Central.
It looked like the Tigers might be in for a rebuild last season, losing eight seniors and four starters to graduation. Instead, Hillman won its first 22 games before losing to Onaway 58-57 in the District Final.
“We were counted out from the very beginning,” Libby said. “We proved everybody wrong.”
Still, the setback to Onaway – a team Hillman had knocked out of the Districts the previous three years – left a bitter taste. Onaway reached the Quarterfinals, but that loss motivates the Tigers.
When his team first gathered for practice this season, Muszynski stressed the importance of “protecting” its league title as well as recapturing the District championship. Hillman had won three Districts in a row before its sudden exit last March.
“That District (trophy) should be in Hillman,” Libby said.
That statement reflects how far this program has evolved. It’s a program that’s now won 46 consecutive league games and 36 consecutive home games.
Those streaks continue to grow, although Libby admitted he’s lost count.
“You just go out there and do what you’ve got to do,” he said.
The 5-foot-9 Libby is the floor general and lone senior in the starting lineup. He averages 25 points and six assists per game. He surpassed 1,000 career points in the season opener when he dropped 30 on Cedarville.
“He’s lightning quick,” Muszynski said. “He’s a tough kid; a hard-nosed, old school style point guard.”
Libby’s backcourt mate, 5-10 junior Brandon Banks, averages nearly 15 a game.
“That’s been our recipe for success since 2009,” Muszynski said. “We usually feature two dynamic scorers.”
Andrew Funk, a 6-foot junior, is also averaging in double figures. He scored 19 in Tuesday’s win, hitting five of Hillman’s 13 3-pointers.
The Tigers compensate for lack of size with speed, a trapping defense and a dangerous perimeter game. Kory Henigan, a 6-4 sophomore, and Billy Kolcan, a 6-1 junior, are the tallest starters. Henigan averages eight points and seven rebounds while the athletic Kolcan, an MHSAA Finals qualifier in track and an honorable mention all-state player in football, spearheads the press.
“He (Kolcan) plays up front on our press,” Muszynski said. “He makes us go. He’s one of the best athletes to come through our school in a long time.”
Kolcan, Banks and Funk were on varsity as sophomores last season.
“On paper, it appears we’re young,” Muszynski said. “But we’re battle-tested.”
And, according to Libby, cohesive, too.
“We work well together,” Libby said. “We’re unselfish – and we scrap.”
Now, the Tigers would like to start playing more basketball. Hillman played just three games in December after two contests were postponed due to weather.
“It’s hard to get any kind of rhythm and consistency when you play two games, then you’re off two weeks, you play one game, then you’re off another two weeks,” Libby said.
As for Muszynski, this is his 12th season at Hillman. He was hired as a physical education/health/social studies teacher and girls basketball coach. When the boys job opened soon afterward, he added that to his responsibilities. He coached both teams for two years before the MHSAA switched girls basketball season to the winter. Even though the girls were 30-12 in those two seasons under his leadership, he felt coaching boys basketball was his calling.
“I liked the challenge,” he said. “With the girls, I walked into a good program. With the boys, I wanted to see if I could build a program.”
With a win over Rudyard just before the holiday break, the 37-year-old Muszynski notched his 200th career win at Hillman (30 with the girls, 170 with the boys).
“He’s been a real blessing for us,” Libby said. “He’s a great coach. He holds us all accountable. He’s thorough, and he can motivate. He knows his stuff.”
“I’m truly blessed,” Muszynski added. “That’s (200 wins) a credit to my players, past and present.”
Muszynski echoed those same sentiments after he won the Associated Press Class D Coach of the Year honor last season.
“One of the proudest moments in my coaching career,” he admitted. “Not only was it a great reward, but it was a reflection of our basketball program here.”
Richards, meanwhile, takes satisfaction in the basketball program’s accomplishments. Now retired, he still follows the Tigers – and Muszynski.
What did he see in Muszynski when he hired him in 2005?
“He has a drive,” Richards said. “He knows what it takes and the work that’s involved. A lot of people just want to work during the season, and when it’s over they’re done. That’s not Eric. He’s a worker, a planner. You could see his desire.”
Richards also feared, once the boys started winning, that Muszynski might leave for a bigger school. He even mentioned that to Muszynski.
“Eric said, ‘You gave me the opportunity to be a head coach and I want to do right by you,’” Richards recalled. “I said, ‘I understand that. But let me give you a piece of advice: it’s easier to build a dynasty in a small town than in a large town.’ I think he’s done a pretty good job with that.”
Muszynski looked north to Cedarville for inspiration. Coach Dave Duncan developed that program into a state contender. The Trojans won an MHSAA title in 2007 and nearly another two years later.
“I thought if a small Class D school in the Upper Peninsula can do that, why can’t we?” Muszynski reasoned.
One of Muszynski’s first priorities was to start applying his philosophies in the youth program so by the time those players reached the varsity they would know the defensive schemes and offensive sets.
“They’ve seen success so they know the formula works,” Muszynski said. “If you have some success, and start to win championships, everyone starts to buy in.”
As for baseball? Practice is still several weeks away.
“When I first got there,” Richards recalled, “the kids, after basketball practice, would put their gloves on and throw the baseball around. They even had a batting cage in the old gym. Now, you don’t see a baseball glove in the gym during the winter.”
Now you see basketball banners.
Dennis Chase worked 32 years as a sportswriter at the Traverse City Record-Eagle, including as sports editor from 2000-14. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Manistee, Wexford, Missaukee, Roscommon, Ogemaw, Iosco, Alcona, Oscoda, Crawford, Kalkaska, Grand Traverse, Benzie, Leelanau, Antrim, Otsego, Montmorency, Alpena, Presque Isle, Cheboygan, Charlevoix and Emmet counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Gunnar Libby, who has scored more than 1,000 points during his Hillman career, cuts through a group of defenders. (Middle) Hillman coach Eric Muszynski addresses his team. (Photos courtesy of The Alpena News.)
![Watervliet basketball](/sites/default/files/2022-03/220301_Watervliet_2H5.jpg)
1,000-Point Pair Setting Tone for Watervliet's Hoops League Champions
By
Wes Morgan
Special for MHSAA.com
March 1, 2022
Watervliet High School’s varsity boys basketball team was trailing Fennville on the road Feb. 8 when senior shooting guard Andrew Chisek reached 1,000 career points. His milestone was acknowledged during the contest, but Chisek reduced the cheering to a low-frequency buzz as he went back to work — like that of the faint mechanical hum from furnaces and lights bouncing around the walls of an empty gymnasium.
Gym rats know that sound.
The Panthers (15-3) ended up losing that night, a rarity this season for coach Dan Hoff’s re-energized program, which shared the Southwestern Athletic Conference Lakeshore title. Watervliet won just nine games combined during Chisek’s first two seasons. The Panthers won 13 games during last year’s COVID-shortened slate and have a shot at 16 this winter with one regular-season game remaining.
Like all the hours spent with a shooting machine and no one there to witness it, Chisek wasn’t concerned about individual praise.
“I’ve just been focusing on the next game, but I’m sure it will hit me after the season how crazy that is,” Chisek said. “I just want to play more and more games. I haven’t really focused on my achievements as much as team achievements. It’s kind of a next-game mentality. It’s an effort thing. I’m hoping to win a District championship.”
Hoff, who took over in 2019-20, explained how Chisek’s example set the tone for a rebuilding process at Watervliet.
“The biggest adjustment for Andrew was he began playing with players who were capable of scoring like he was,” Hoff said. “He did a wonderful job of getting them more involved in the scoring part of the game. Previous to that he didn’t have to and shouldn’t have because he was such an important scorer for the team.”
Chisek’s production this season includes 13.4 points, 4.9 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.3 steals per game. He’s the third 1,000-point scorer on the boys side in Watervliet history, joining the likes of Kevin Bryce (1,114 points in 2009), Dan Hutchinson (1,016 points in 1983) and Jason Forrester (1,158 points in 1992).
“To Andrew’s credit and the type of person he is, it appeared to me that he just wanted to help the team try to win the game (against Fennville),” Hoff added. “It was a brief moment of recognition, but his focus was immediately back on what we can do to be successful. The team approach of these guys has been remarkable. With all of my years of coaching I’ve had, I’ve been amazingly impressed with how these guys have buried their egos, buried their personal goals and really focused on what we can do every day to get better.
“When you’re working to start a new program like we have in my first three years, to have one of your best players be so dedicated to improving himself while having other kids join him, has been so instrumental in our progress.”
The student-athletes who do the extra work when nobody’s around are often the ones that require the least attention.
Samantha Dietz, a junior forward for the Watervliet girls squad, knew she was approaching the same feat this past Saturday after leading the team in scoring the last three seasons, needing eight points to join the exclusive club. After she knocked down a free throw in the second quarter at Paw Paw, the public address announcer made note of the accomplishment and Dietz admitted the pause in action rattled her. She missed the second free throw and was happy the moment had passed so she and the Panthers could get back to the task at hand. They closed out the game for a 54-37 win — their 18th of the year.
“It was cool that it happened,” she said. “I wasn’t really sure what to expect, I guess. It was good to get it out of the way before tournament time. Now I can just focus on that. What has helped the most is having those rough years. It was a struggle my freshman year. It helped to go through that. We all play all the sports we can, and we’ve all been together and work hard.”
Her father, Watervliet athletic director and varsity girls coach Ken Dietz, has had the best seat in the house during this journey. In an undoubtedly proud dad moment, he didn’t stray from his role of coach. The two can look back on the memory as father and daughter later.
“It was just business,” said Ken Dietz, whose team is preparing for a Division 3 District Semifinal matchup Wednesday with Cassopolis. “I fist bumped her after the game and told her ‘Congratulations,’ but we keep it separate. We just keep it that way. It has worked that way. It sounds simple. It’s fun and it’s not stressful at all. I don’t think I treat her any different than anyone else on the team. I’m one of the blessed ones.
“I’m just so proud of her work ethic. If your best player doesn’t work hard every day in practice and doesn’t work hard in the game, it’s tough to get everybody to work hard. In high school, if you work harder than everybody, you’re going to be a better-than-average player. Her work ethic is impressive, and it has created a standard for our kids. She’s a good teammate. When she’s not playing, she’s cheering for the other kids. That’s infectious to everybody else.
Dietz is averaging 17.4 points and 13.3 rebounds per game this year, and she’s the sixth girls basketball player at Watervliet to eclipse 1,000 career points. She joins Nicole Winter (1,086 points in 2013), Rachel Sheffer (1,490 points in 2009), Kim Gear (1,062 points in 2005), Lisa Ashton (1,299 points in 1997) and Kim Carney (1,057 points in 1981) on the esteemed school list of all-time scorers.
But after experiencing only five wins as a freshman in 2019-20, it is how the program has made such a stunning turnaround that is most impressive.
“It wasn’t too long ago that we couldn’t get the ball across half court,” Ken Dietz said. “We played Schoolcraft four years ago when I first took over and we could not get the ball across half court in the first half. It was just ugly. So, we have come a long way in a few years. I’ve told the girls, ‘You’ve built this place, so live in it, enjoy it and have fun. You deserve to be here.’”
Putting his AD hat back on, Ken Dietz is thrilled to see where the school is as a whole.
“We’re headed in the right direction,” Ken Dietz said of Watervliet athletics. “One, we have great kids representing our school right now. Andrew and Sam are obviously two of those. There is nobody who has shot more baskets and put more time into boys basketball than Andrew the last few years. He has set that standard. They are leaders because they work hard and do the right things.”
Wes Morgan has reported for the Kalamazoo Gazette, ESPN and ESPNChicago.com, 247Sports and Blue & Gold Illustrated over the last 12 years and is the publisher of JoeInsider.com. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Berrien, Cass, St. Joseph and Branch counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Samantha Dietz and Andrew Chisek both have reached 1,000 career points for Watervliet this season. (Middle) Chisek pulls up for a jumper; he’s averaging 13.4 points per game this season. (Below) Dietz gets a shot up over a pair of Gobles defenders. (Photos courtesy of the Watervliet athletic department.)