BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer
MADISON, Wis. — As the Wisconsin basketball managers attempted logo shots prior to the on-court arrival of the players and coaches to Tuesday’s practice, the Middleton High School girls team cheered each make from their seats behind the home sideline at the Kohl Center.
It was not long before the girls were joined by their head coach, who angled his 6-11 frame into Seat 18, Row C of Section 123, allowing him to stretch his legs into the aisle. Wearing a gray sweatsuit and a Badger stocking cap, Rashard Griffith looked at home; comfortable, per usual, in his own skin.
“I made them a promise that by the end of the season, we’d either go to a boy’s game or we’d go to one of the practices,” said Griffith, the former UW low post space-eater. “I brought them to a practice because I believe they can get more out of a practice than they can out of a game.”
Griffith is always looking to grow their game. It has been that way since last fall when Middleton athletic director Jamie Sims approached Griffith about coaching the girls program, and he accepted the challenge of taking over for Jeff Kind, who won 634 times over three decades at the high school.
With Kind, a WBCA Hall of Famer, moving out of the community, Griffith moved through the formal interview process without any reservations. Or hitches. “I was just me,” he said, conceding in the next breath, “I knew – and I know – coaching girls is different because I’ve trained young ladies.”
Still, there’s knowledge in the constants, a proven means to an end competitively. And he spelled it out, “I put them through hard stuff and difficult stuff to help them grow as players and individuals as well … because …. that’s life, right? I’ve got to be patient. But I’ve got to prepare them.”
When the players convened in early November for tryouts, he put them on alert.
“I told them what I expected of them on and off the court,” Griffith said. “Student comes first, athlete second. And I’m constantly drilling it into their heads. The first part of the season we were the only team in the school to have all of our levels, and every girl in the program academically eligible.”
More so now than ever, Griffith has an appreciation for the value of an education. After playing two seasons for the Badgers – helping lead them back in 1994 to the NCAA…
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