'Ville' Coach Driven to Make Difference
By
Tom Markowski
Special for Second Half
December 30, 2015
DETROIT – It’s unlikely. But if Juan Rickman ever gets bored, he would be a prime candidate to participate in a sleep-deprivation study.
Rickman, 32, spent five seasons as the boys basketball coach at Detroit Crockett, then became the coach at Detroit East English Village Prep when Crockett merged with Detroit Finney for the start of the 2012-13 school year.
His fulltime job is serving as an attendant agent for the Detroit Public Schools. In layman’s terms, he’s a truant officer. He also works for Wayne County in its juvenile detention department.
And if that’s not enough, Rickman and a partner are in the process of starting a medical transportation business. Rickman said he has the drivers lined up. Purchasing the vehicles is the next step.
Rickman also is a husband and a father. He and his wife Kateena have a 16-month-old daughter, Amira.
A graduate of Detroit Cass Tech and the University of Michigan-Dearborn, Rickman is driven. Achievement is the driving force that supplies the motivation for himself and his family, and for the students for whom he is responsible.
“I’m grinding, just grinding,” he said. “My wife and I have a budget.
“She’s totally into my life. You want a means to an end. We want to buy a house.”
A typical day for Rickman begins at 7:45 a.m. at East English. School ends at 3:30 p.m., and then study table begins a half hour later for his players and lasts an hour and a half. Practice runs from 5:50-8 p.m. His job with Wayne County begins at 11 p.m. and he’s off at 7 – then he’s back at East English.
Rickman isn’t Superman, so this routine isn’t played out every day. But there are weeks where he’ll work three nights for Wayne County, then work a Sunday.
“There are some days I don’t sleep,” he said. “This past week I got up Monday morning and didn’t sleep until 11 (p.m.) on Wednesday.
“When my wife wasn’t working, I had to (work extended hours). Sometimes I’ll take some time off (from Wayne County). The thing is, I know when I need to tone it down.”
Kateena returned to work for an insurance company soon after giving birth. Though this helps monetarily, it also forces the Rickmans to send their child to day care.
It can be a dilemma, and it is a balancing act. But they’re determined to create a good life for themselves and their child.
Juan Rickman said he planned on cutting back on his hours during the holidays to spend more time with his family.
Along with the rewards financially from their hard work is the satisfaction of knowing they are contributing to their community. Because of his jobs within DPS and Wayne County, Juan Rickman deals with many troubled youths. He knows he’s in a position to set an example as a positive role model, and there is a responsibility to fulfill these expectations.
“I take it seriously,” Rickman said. “A big part of my job is to get these kids into college. I’ve had six of my players go on to a Division I school, but what I’m most proud of is the others. I didn’t have to work hard to get the Division I kids in school. College coaches came after them. I’m more proud of the D-II and the (players who went to) NAIA (schools). Look at Jaylin McFadden. We worked hard to get him into Ferris State.
“And these players come back around. Even the ones I kicked off the team come back. It’s a good feeling.”
Rickman and others at East English also helped the team manager earn a scholarship. Devin Smith is a senior and he’s earned a scholarship to Madonna University in Livonia through a fund the university set up.
East English is off to a 1-2 start, but the Bulldogs are expected to be a significant factor in the race for the Public School League title.
“I’m content coaching high school basketball,” Rickman said. “I’ve had opportunities to go to the next level. I didn’t like the situation.”
Tom Markowski is a columnist and directs website coverage for the State Champs! Sports Network. He previously covered primarily high school sports for the The Detroit News from 1984-2014, focusing on the Detroit area and contributing to statewide coverage of football and basketball. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for Oakland, Macomb and Wayne counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Detroit East English boys basketball coach Juan Rickman works with his players during a practice. (Middle) Rickman, with wife Kateena, holds daughter Amira. (Photos courtesy of the Rickman family.)
Beecher Back in Breslin Center Form
March 26, 2015
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
EAST LANSING – Few high school teams have made a home of Michigan State University’s Breslin Center like Flint Beecher over the last decade.
That’s what made last season’s just-miss of MHSAA Finals weekend so unsettling. And Beecher seemed to take out all of its disappointment on Hanover-Horton during the first half of Thursday’s Class C Semifinal.
Back at Breslin for the sixth time in eight seasons, Beecher scored the first 11 points to pull away almost immediately on the way to defeating the Comets 71-43.
The Buccaneers’ 2013-14 season ended with a one-point Quarterfinal loss to eventual runner-up Pewamo-Westphalia. In its return to the semis, Beecher led by 20 at the end of the first quarter and 31 by halftime.
“I just wanted to get off to a quick start, start the team off fast. We wanted this bad,” Beecher senior guard Samuel Toins said. “Last year we suffered a heartbreak, and we didn’t want to feel that pain like we felt last year.”
Top-ranked Beecher (25-1) will seek its sixth MHSAA title at 4 p.m. Saturday against Grand Rapids NorthPointe Christian. A title would be the Bucs’ third in four seasons – they won back-to-back in Class C in 2012 and 2013.
They’ve had similar hot starts to Thursday, Toins said, “but this is the most important.”
He had 11 points, with three 3-pointers, and all five starters scored as Beecher built a 23-3 advantage by the end of the first quarter.
Bucs coach Mike Williams said his only worry coming into Thursday was that his players might be distracted by their return. But again, they seemed right at home making 51 percent of their shots from the Breslin floor – including 56 percent of their tries from 3-point range.
Beecher scored 27 points off turnovers and outscored Hanover-Horton on the break 11-0, taking advantage of 21 turnovers brought on in part by the defensive press.
That all has been part of the plan for getting back to Breslin – Williams puts his players through practices where they run to exhaustion first, and then scrimmage, to prepare for championship-caliber pace.
The Bucs set it Thursday.
“There have been some days when … these guys wanted to strangle me,” Williams said. “But to get to this point, I told them if they can’t handle me in practice, when the pressure is on in games, they won’t be able to handle it. … I like to think that’s what got these kids over the top.”
Senior guard Cedric Moten added 18 points for Beecher, and sophomore forward Levane Blake had 11 and eight rebounds.
Junior forward Preston Laketa had 17 points and 10 rebounds for Hanover-Horton (24-2), which did outscore Beecher 30-27 during the second half.
The Semifinal was the Comets’ first since 2003, and Beecher was the fourth ranked opponent they’d faced this tournament. Hanover-Horton, No. 8, beat No. 4 Hillsdale, No. 6 Jackson Lumen Christi and No. 9 Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central during the run.
“(The first half) was probably the worst half of basketball we’ve played, and I know they had a lot to do with it,” Hanover-Horton coach Chad Mortimer said. “We started off with turnovers, didn’t take a shot for a few minutes. … It was over quick.
“We ran into some really good teams along the way in the tournament, but we ran into a buzz saw today that was on top of their game, and we weren’t.”
Click for the full box score and video from the postgame press conference.
PHOTOS: (Top) Beecher players celebrate their victory over Hanover-Horton and return to the Class C Final. (Middle) Beecher and Hanover-Horton players scramble for a loose ball Thursday.