Noah Ruston is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Scottsdale Prep Academy forAZPreps365.com

Two years ago, Scottsdale Prep was looking at its most talented roster in the past few seasons. But the team underperformed with a disappointing 11-16 record and the school decided to go into a new direction.

Scottsdale Prep finished this past season with a 10-7 record, losing in the play-in game in the first round of the state tournament. The team overachieved under first year coach Jeff Slump.

“I think this season was an awesome experience. I think the coach kind of brought us closer together and took a team with not a lot of skill and turned it into something big,” said team co-captain Sam Spivey. “I think overall coach Slump proved that he can take any group of guys and make them successful no matter what. So I think it is very promising for the future.”

The new head coach believes the school is perfect for him and his family.

“It is a wonderful community in which we have known people for a long time. It was a great, natural fit,” said Slump. “I live close to the school. It is a school where we may even consider where to send my children as they get older, which we probably will. It is an area in which I think the expectations are correct and you have the ability from a basketball standpoint to really build something that can be enjoyable for everyone.

“For the players, for the parents, and for the community. It was honestly the best, natural fit and I was very happy that I got the opportunity to do it, and still doing it and plan on doing it for a long time.”

Slump accepted the job offer and started in the middle of the pandemic. It was his first time being a head coach for a high school program and picked up important lessons early on.

“I think that was the biggest thing when I first started and took the job about a year ago and worked through the summer through all of COVID-19 and everything else, coming up with the ideas of what we wanted to implement,” said Slump. “What are our expectations, what our goals would be, what our objectives would be both on the court and off of it.

 “I think the biggest change that I had to learn being a head coach was when to lean on and when to give certain roles and certain reliable situations to my assistant coaches, and they did an awesome job.”

As a former collegiate player in Iowa, Slump lived and breathed hoops his entire life. He picked up several characteristics from his playing days which he preaches to his players now.

“My experience as a player is what developed the way that I view coaching and expectations for our players. Attitude, effort, and communication,” said Slump. “I realized when I got into coaching if you can do these three things, you can become a very productive player and become an asset.”

His players understood his message.

“He preached to us that attitude, effort, and communication was applicable to all circumstances of life,” said Spivey. “If you put in a good effort, have a great attitude and communicate with everyone around you, you will not go unnoticed. That is probably the one thing that I will definitely take away what he taught me as a coach.”

 “No matter the skill level you have, if you follow those three things, you are going to be successful under him,” added his other co-captain Sam Hurley.

The rebuilding process of the team happened from the first day Slump stepped on campus. His affect was felt.

“We grew a lot as a team,” said Hurley. “We had a scrimmage with a team at the beginning of the season, and we played the same team at the end of the season and there was such a big difference; you can see all the improvement.”

The boys embraced Slump’s basketball philosophy early on.

“My coaching style now is most influenced by Brad Stevens of the Boston Celtics. He is the type of coach that I try to be,” said Slump. “His system is a model I focus on who I think is someone who does it the right way.”

The Spartans put most of their emphasis on the defensive end. The team goal was to hold their opponents to under 48 points a game, only allowing 12 points a quarter. Their mission was accomplished by allowing only 38 points per game.

“I think that if you are good on defense, he will play you,” said Spivey. “He said one time if you shoot 50% from three but do not contribute on the defensive end, you will not play. He put defense above all, and I would not think most coaches would rate defense so high as much as him.”

The 2020-2021 high school campaign is one that nobody will ever forget.

“It was fun. The real rewarding thing was seeing the attitude change of the players,” said Slump. “Seeing the way they embraced all the obstacles this season, whether it was the ups and downs of some kids being out with quarantine, having to wear masks, the whole thing. I think the growth of their attitude and being able to look at things the right way was a really good thing to see in my first year.”

Some of his co-captains favorite moments happened off the court during this pandemic-filled season.

“My favorite memory was the great times I had at practices,” said Hurley “At the end of practices, he always had us play games like horse and bump out. I think that will be one of my favorites because everyone had such a good time. It really helped all of us out to alleviate the stress that we were dealing with from the changing situation.”

Slump’s words have impact on his players. Nobody more appreciates it than Sam Spivey.

“After our loss in the last game, he started talking about how much we meant to him and you saw his eyes start watering, getting choked up,” said Spivey. “I noticed then that he was not the 100% all-business guy all the time, and he really cared about us and all his players. I just thought it was a really awesome moment.”

Slump only has one goal for his upcoming teams in the future.

“The honest expectations for the future is when opponents see us on the schedule, they know that it is a tough game,” said Slump. “They know that when they play Scottsdale Prep, we are going to give 100% of our effort, we are going to have a good mental attitude, and we are going to compete, and do that every night. If we can get there, whatever wins and losses we end up with is irrelevant. That is what we are striving to achieve at least in the first few years.”