New coaches ply trade at East Valley, Freeman

Two basketball coaches – one new face and one familiar – have been chosen to head programs at East Valley and Freeman.

Former Knights coach Drew Vanderpool is returning to the EV boys helm, replacing protégé Steve Henderson, who resigned to coach at Bainbridge.

Bill Bland, 47, whose credentials include high school and college jobs in the Midwest, is the new boys coach at Freeman.

•Vanderpool took EV teams to the 3A and 4A regional tournaments in 1999 and 2000, respectively. He resigned in 2004 after six years. He was junior varsity coach at Mt. Spokane, where his sons Andy and Robbie played, and was on the Knights’ bench as an assistant this past season.

“My kids have finished up playing in high school. … I missed it and wanted to get back into coaching,” Vanderpool said.

He said he interviewed Thursday, got the job Friday, talked with as many returning players as he could and begins playing summer ball on Friday. His second stint at EV will be a combination of the “old stuff I’m used to and will mix in new things. Every year coaches change their stuff.”

•Bland, 47, a Fairfield resident and Vice President of Youth Programs for Ambassadors Group, Inc., has taken a circuitous route back into high school coaching with the Scotties.

He said he attended North Park University in Chicago, coached a small Catholic high school there, was a college assistant at St. Bonaventure and later head coach for five years at Division II Saint Joseph in Rensselaer, Ind.

He left coaching for the sports group travel business and came to the Spokane area, he said, when Ambassadors bought out the company.

He has lived here for the past 10 years. While watching his young son play for a couple of youth teams, he met Freeman school board member and alum Chad Goldsmith and Freeman athletic director Brian Parisotto, “(It) got me back in the spirit of coaching again,” said Bland. “I caught the bug.”

Bland said his philosophy, based on being the best half-court team it can be, stresses four things.

“You can gain a lot from outworking your opponent,” he said. “Once you learn to play hard you learn to play together, play smart and play with confidence.”