Mourning Those Who Contributed Much

Joe Lusk has had to be talked into coaching a couple of times.

But that hasn’t stopped him from being a winner.

The Hanover-Horton girls basketball coach picked up career victory No. 200 last week when the Comets improved to 12-1 with a victory over Homer. It’s the best start to the season for Hanover-Horton since girls basketball transitioned from a fall sport to winter two decades ago.

“He holds his girls accountable and wants to get the best out of each and every one of them,” said Comets athletic director Chris VanEpps. “We are very lucky to have him here at Hanover-Horton.”

Lusk’s career spans two Cascades Conference schools – his alma mater Michigan Center, and Hanover-Horton for the past five seasons. He was also on the bench at Michigan Center when the Cardinals enjoyed incredible success under coach Scott Furman.

Lusk’s story isn’t the typical one about a high school athlete growing up wanting to be a coach. The Consumers Energy retiree, in fact, never considered coaching basketball until his daughter Courtney came home one day and told him he was coaching her team.

“She was in the fifth grade,” Joe Lusk said. “She told me there was a tournament at Vandercook Lake, she was playing and I was going to coach. I told her no way.”

That no slowly turned into a yes.

After coaching the youth basketball team for several years, Lusk was asked by Furman to join his varsity staff.

“He probably asked me 20 times,” Lusk said. “I kept telling him no. Ten years later, I was still coaching.”

Courtney grew into a varsity player and Lusk became an assistant coach.

“The joke at our house was she was either going to be a good basketball player or she was going to be in therapy,” Lusk said. “She would come home after a tough game and say, ‘Is tonight a therapy night?’”

Not much therapy was needed. The Cardinals went through a remarkable run during which they reached the MHSAA Finals twice and Semifinals another season before Courtney graduated in 2006.

Joe Lusk remained an assistant but, in 2012, Furman died, shocking the Michigan Center community. The ultra-successful coach had won more than 350 games during his career. Lusk took over the job, although he had reservations about becoming head coach.

Over the next nine seasons those reservations were put to rest as the Cardinals won 149 games. In 2018, they went 23-3 and made a run to the Division 3 Semifinals.

Lusk’s last season at Michigan Center was 2020-21. In June 2021, he was hired at Hanover-Horton.

“They found out there was an opening at Hanover and my wife (Cindy) and Courtney put together my resume and sent it in,” Lusk said. “They told me they were doing it. They wouldn’t let me quit (coaching).”

He was hired.

“Having an experienced coach like Coach Lusk is very important for our program,” VanEpps said. “His consistency and effort to make things better, not just for his teams, but for Hanover-Horton in general, give our younger staff someone to model themselves after. As for the girls on his team, he is stern but fair, which is something that can be lost on our younger generations.”

As for his current team being 12-1, Lusk knows the Comets have difficult games coming up. The Comets face Michigan Center (12-2) on Wednesday, Brooklyn Columbia Central (9-2) in a Cascades Conference West game in two weeks and state-ranked Concord in a nonconference matchup. Hanover-Horton also is in a District with powerhouses like Jackson Lumen Christi and Grass Lake. If the Comets win the Cascades West, they will likely face Grass Lake in the conference title game.

“We know the second half of our schedule is loaded,” he said.

Through it all, basketball remains a family sport. Courtney is the Comets’ junior varsity coach. Cindy keeps the scorebook for every game, something she has done for years.

“We are a basketball family,” Lusk said. “If Cindy didn’t do what she does, I wouldn’t be here today. She does a lot of work. For our juniors program, she keeps track of everything, all of the kids, what their shirt sizes are. If I had to do all of that, I wouldn’t be doing it. She loves basketball.”

Doug Donnelly has served as a news and sports reporter at the Adrian Daily Telegram and the Monroe News for 30 years, including 10 years as city editor in Monroe. He's written a book on high school basketball in Monroe County and compiles record books for various schools in southeast Michigan. He is now publisher and editor of The Blissfield Advance, a weekly newspaper. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Jackson, Washtenaw, Hillsdale, Lenawee and Monroe counties.

PHOTOS (Top) Hanover-Horton girls basketball coach Joe Lusk monitors the action during a game this season. (Middle) Lila Hamisfar (1) puts up a shot against Homer. (Below) Lusk carries balloons celebrating his 200^th win alongside Hanover-Horton teacher and basketball parent Courtney Toteff. (Top and middle photos by Hannah Tacy/JTV. Below photo courtesy of Cindy Lusk.)