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Mount Airy coach Kevin Spainhour
He’ll see family.
And more than that, he’ll see a former coach and mentor.
That’s because Spainhour’s older brother, Dan, who is in his second stint as the head coach of the Wildcats, was Kevin’s high school basketball and baseball coach during his playing days for Bishop McGuinness from 1989-1993.
Dan, who is 15 years older than Kevin, became the head coach at Bishop in 1987 after serving five seasons under current Old Dominion associate coach Jim Corrigan.
The Spainhour’s had a great deal of success during Kevin’s time as a Villain, reaching the state finals in both his junior and senior seasons, which included winning 30 games during his junior campaign.
Both men went onto bigger things, with Kevin heading to Guilford College as a player then on to coach East Surry and now Mount Airy, while Dan went on to be head of basketball operations for Leonard Hamilton at both Miami and Florida State, sandwiching a stint as head coach of the Wildcats in the middle.
Born and raised in King, the Spainhour brothers, including David, who is an assistant at West, were slated to attend South Stokes High School. Dan did become a Saura and went on to High Point University before heading to Bishop as a teacher and coach, but once Kevin reached high school age, it was apparent he would have a different path.
“He’ll tell you he knew from an early age he wanted to be a coach and he found out he wanted to coach me, which I didn’t know until after the fact,” Kevin said of his older brother. “He’s since told me and lots of others that when I was nine or 10 he decided he wanted to coach me in high school.”
While many brothers have a highly competitive streak or fight for attention, the age difference allowed Dan to be more of a guiding force in Kevin’s life, and it was that connection which put Kevin in the position to play for his brother in high school.
Kevin said he doesn’t remember his older brother making any exception for him as a player or person while he was under his wing, but that he wanted to please his brother and coach so much he probably would have never noticed a hard streak.
“The reason I went to Bishop was to play for him,” Kevin said. “He’s always been a mentor to me and he did a good job of handling that player-coach relationship. We left everything at the school, everything inside the gym. We would come home and wouldn’t talk basketball or sports that much. I had a lot of respect for him and what he had already done and accomplished, so I put a lot of expectations on myself. He might have been a little tougher on me, but I never recognized it when I was a player because I wanted to be pushed so bad.”
Dan said from his point of view he doesn’t think he pushed him any further than any other player, but that Kevin also kept his end of the bargain by never expecting any preferential treatment.
“I don’t ever really remember a time that I felt like I treated him any different than anybody else,” Dan said. “It helped with his understanding of the game. He was one of our hardest workers so there was never a question whether or not he should be playing. He carried his end and he worked hard day in an day out. Kevin was a self-made player. He made himself get to the level he did, so when he tells his team about what to do and how to work, he knows what he’s talking about.”
Now with both men coaching in the same conference for the first time and a third brother, David Spainhour, an assistant coach at West, the twice annual Granite Bear-Wildcat matchup will take on added importance.
The first time the two met was when Kevin was a head coach at East Surry, one season before taking over the Bears. West won both of that season’s matchups.
Both men said there a several similarities in their coaching styles, which is of course, no coincidence. One thing which Kevin said he thinks binds the two in philosophy is the idea of making the program a key focus.
“One of the things that he’s best at and always has been is the ability to sell the kids on the process of what the system or the program is,” Kevin said. “He’s a really master psychologist. He’s so good at, what we used to call around the house, ‘brain washing.’ I’ve never known a player who wouldn’t run through the wall for him. For me, I knew early on that setting up a program is so much more than about ‘x’s’ and ‘o’s’ and so much more than the knowledge of the game. You have to coach the intangibles, you have to develop relationships with the players and they’ve got to be sold. They have to completely believe in you as a coach and ultimately as a person and as a leader. Dan’s one of the best at that.”
“I’ve been able to watch Kevin from afar and it’s been fun watching his progress as a coach,” Dan said. “He’s done a great job of putting a program together and he’s done a great job at Mount Airy. Probably the best thing about us playing each other is we get to hear us tell good things about each other because we don’t say that to each other’s face.”
Despite the family ties, both Spainhour’s said they don’t see Friday’s game differently than any other, but that they both hope things don’t necessarily work out perfectly for the competition.
“It’s going to be a little awkward,” Kevin said. “I think people make a little bit bigger deal of it than what it is to us, or our family. Part of it is we’ve done this a lot. Because we have been in circumstances where I’m playing for him and we lost on a Friday and then we are sitting together having Sunday lunch. I hope he wins every game except two and I think he’d say the same thing. I enjoy watching his teams play, I just hope he doesn’t play very well on Friday.”
“As a coach, once the game starts I don’t even know who is there or anything else,” Dan said. “It’s really not me against Kevin, it’s my boys against his boys and West Stokes against Mount Airy. Obviously, if you gave me a preference I would prefer not to play Kevin’s team. I’m Kevin’s biggest fan and I want him to do well, but not at my expense.”
Contact Thomas Smith at tsmith@mtairynews.com or 719-1920.
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