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Family comes first for longtime Durant coach

The Shotwell family

Durant basketball coach Jeff Shotwell has resigned to spend more time with his son, J.J., and his wife Danielle.

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By DAREK SHARP

dsharp@tampatrib.com

Published: August 19, 2009

PLANT CITY - Jeff Shotwell has been coaching for most of his adult life, and never thought about stopping.

"You see it all the time, a coach says he's stepping down for 'family reasons.' I never thought I'd be that guy," Shotwell said.

"But once you're in that spot you can totally relate."

Last week Shotwell, a basketball coach at Durant for nine years, stepped down from his spot leading the boys squad.

"It was tough," he said. "I took a long time in the spring and summer to think about it and pray about it. The decision is what's best for me right now."

The "family reasons" are simple for Shotwell: he and wife Danielle, after 10 years of marriage, had their first child. In April 2008 J.J. Shotwell was born, and during the past Cougars campaign Shotwell was torn between work and home.

While Durant had a tremendous season, going 21-6 and making a strong run at a playoff spot, the 16-hour game days took their toll. Just how much he wanted to be with his son dawned on Shotwell, ironically, after the team's best win of the season.

"We had just beaten Sarasota Riverview, which was ranked No. 6 in the state at the time - great win," he said. "I specifically remember the bus ride home, the win kinda solidified us as a good team. I was happy that we won but I just remember, it felt like I hadn't seen J.J. I had seen him that day yes, but I had not spent any quality time with him."

Shotwell, 35, says that he will take four or five years off, at least until the age where his son will be able to attend practices and not be out of place on the bench.

Shotwell said he certainly is not getting out while the getting's good. He thinks the Cougars are going to have perhaps the best team in program history next year.

Assistant coach Trent Tice will inherit the head coaching duties - and he may have Shotwell as an assistant from time to time.

"Oh, that's unavoidable," Shotwell said. "I can go scout some games and just load up J.J."

He said that with point guard Jeffrey Thomas leading the way, "I could get up and leave the gym during the game and no one would know ... he runs the show."

Shotwell has spent 12 years overall as a coach, the most recent five with the Cougar boys and previously a four-year stint with the Durant girls team. The girls team went to the playoffs in 2000, 2002 and 2003 under Shotwell's guidance, the latter year resulting in the longest playoff run in program history, a trip to the regional finals.

Shotwell was also very involved with influencing his players to do good works in the community. He created the Success 101 program, aimed at motivating players to excel off the court. With the program, players planned fundraising events, one of which donated hundreds of dollars to a children's hospital.

He will remain at Durant as a teacher in the IMPACT class, but his work days will now end sooner.

Reporter Nick Williams contributed to this report.

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