Kenny Davis still at helm of Freeman volleyball
The dean of area volleyball coaches began his second quarter-century as a high school coach last week.
Kenny Davis started his 21st season as coach of the Freeman Scotties, his 26th as a head coach, having started his career at Cusick.
The area coach closest in seniority to Davis is Missy Bennett, who began her 25th season as a head coach and her 20th season at Colville.
“I tell all my kids this story every year, but my most satisfying season as a coach was when my team went 0-16,” Davis said. “That was at Cusick and we were a very young team. But the kids worked hard, and they improved every game, and that was our goal for the season.
“That next season things really took off.”
And they haven’t slowed much since.
Davis’ teams have had a winning record in 23 of his 25 previous seasons.
It was always getting to state that was difficult.
Freeman has been a premier team in the state’s most isolated Class 1A league. The Northeast A League has been as small as a four-team league in some years. Its nearest neighbor in another league is Lake Roosevelt.
By being small, there were many, many seasons where the league got only one state berth, and the Scotties were in the same league with powerhouse Colfax.
“I haven’t been to state as many times as (16-year head coach) Sue Doering has at Colfax, that’s for sure,” Davis said. “There were years where they would be ranked No. 1 or No. 2 in the state and we would be ranked No. 5, but only one of us could go on to play at state.”
Still, Davis has taken nine teams to state, earning six total trophies. Coming off a seventh-place trophy last year, Davis is in search of a sixth consecutive state trophy this year.
“Last year was a very satisfying year,” he said. “We’d graduated six seniors and two all-state players from the year before who had finished second and third at state to finish their careers. But the girls picked up the challenge and put it all together at state.
“But there was a night down in Colfax where we were just walloped. When I got back to the locker room, there were tears in the girls’ eyes. I told them I wanted them to forget about that night, but at the same time, I didn’t want to forget that night. I wanted them to realize that they had a lot of work to do to prevent something like that from happening again.”
As they seem to do every year, Freeman picked up the gauntlet its coach threw down. The Scotties battled Colfax, dropping a close decision in a regional seeding match and went on to earn a fifth consecutive trophy.
In many ways, that response to a challenge typifies Freeman volleyball.
Year in and year out, the Scotties use speed to their advantage, throwing a lot of energy at opponents to go with solid volleyball talent.
“I don’t usually get a lot of club volleyball players, but I do get good athletes,” Davis said. “At a small school, you have to share your athletes in ways that you don’t have to do at bigger schools.
“To give you an example, I have Jessie DePell playing for me. She’s going to go on and be a Division I basketball player, but she’s out playing volleyball because her teammates need her.”
That’s an attitude shared throughout the school, he said.
“We all have to get along to make things work,” Davis said. “We’ve had staff meetings where we all have something to say or to get off our chest, but we all leave the table as friends. That’s important.
“The summer, for example, I needed to go to the girls basketball coach, Matt Gregg, and ask him for a couple of my players to play matches. I told him that he had the girls for 20 days and I only needed them for four nights, so we worked it out.”
Davis is adamant about the secret to his longevity and his success: Consistency.
“I have a junior high staff that wants to know exactly what we’re doing at the high school level,” he said. “That way the kids are taught the same way to do things. Every year we start over with the basics and build up, but we’re doing it the same way year in and year out.
“Sue Doering down at Colfax has a little different situation. Because of the way their junior high season works out, she’s able to actually coach junior high volleyball so that her players all have worked with her from a very young age.”
Davis said there will be a few times this season when he will have to miss a few practices.
“My son (Stewart) is playing baseball at the University of Washington and I want to see him play fall ball,” Davis said. “And I have a daughter (Kasey) playing in the band at Central Valley and I really want to see her perform.
“I think the Freeman parents will understand that. Sometimes it’s important to be a dad, too.”
At the end of the day, Davis said, it’s all about kids – his own and his players.
“The thing is, the kids have made me a better person,” he said.