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Turnaround Is Complete For Cobras

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By EDDIE DANIELS

edaniels@tampatrib.com

Published: February 19, 2009

LAND O' LAKES - When reflecting on boys basketball history in Pasco County, it's easy to defer to Ridgewood, Land O' Lakes, Wesley Chapel or Pasco.
Playoff appearances for those schools have been abundant.

This season, Ridgewood heads into the postseason as the county's lone district champion, while Hudson and Land O' Lakes are district runner-ups.

Ridgewood (25-2) will enter its ninth playoff game when it hosts Newsome (20-5), while Land O' Lakes (17-10) travels to King (20-6) for its seventh foray into the postseason.

When the ball is jumped at midcourt tonight at Groveland South Lake, Hudson will have reached just its second playoff game in school history.

This is a school that has been open since 1973.

The same program that on Jan. 20, 2005, ended the county's longest losing streak - 35 - with a 40-29 victory against Zephyrhills.

The feat was marked by a stop at McDonald's.

"I remember my first year," Hudson coach Jason Vetter said. "Land O' Lakes coach Dave Puhalski told me, 'You aren't going to fix this in two or three years. It's going to be four or five or six years.'"

There are a few keys Vetter, in his sixth season, admitted have helped pave the way to success.

A patient principal is one of them.

"I just think for any school, if you've got a coach who is working hard, give them enough time," Vetter said. "They're going to get it turned around."

It's evident that philosophy has been paramount at Hudson. In Vetter's first three seasons, the Cobras were 5-71. Last season, he coached the team to a 15-14 mark. During that season's district tournament semifinals, Hudson, which was a fifth seed, knocked off top-seeded Springstead. And the year prior, the squad was 6-19.

Entering tonight's matchup against South Lake (17-11), Hudson is 18-8.

That level of patience nearly ended following Vetter's third season. Entering that year, he told his principal he would step down following that season. It could have been a decision altering the Cobras' current course.

"That's the time I got assistant coach Dave Branco onboard," Vetter said. "Then when Jarrod Branco was a sophomore, we could kind of see things were going in the right direction and that kind of re-energized me and that got everything going."

So how does one go about excavating a team, which has made its living beneath the basement, into a team in the playoff hunt?

Hard work is integral.

"That's us and the players both, working hard year 'round," he said.

Then add discipline.

"From Day One, we've made sure we've had high character kids in the program and kids who aren't doing the right things, we remove from the program," Vetter said.

Being on the same page with your assistant coach is worth its weight in gold or any other precious medal.

"He just really rounds out what we're doing," Vetter said. "He's great with the kids. He's brought a lot of good qualities into our program, he's helped me deal with the kids better.

"We've really been on a theme of family, really making the team a family and he's really helped out a lot with that. I think it's helped the kids buy in to it, it's helped the parents buy in. We're all moving in the same direction now."

And that direction is forward.

Reporter Eddie Daniels can be reached at (813) 948-4214.

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