When Mustang head basketball coach Jay Applegate resigned last Monday, it didn’t take Iola long to lock in a successor.
By Friday, assistant coach Luke Bycroft had been offered the job and accepted.
For Bycroft, the head coaching job is one he has spent a long time working for.
“I loved baseball as a little kid all the way up until high school, but when I hit high school, basketball became my passion,” Bycroft said. “I was better at baseball, but I loved basketball more. I was in the gym multiple times a day working out, shooting and doing everything I could do to get better.”
The hard work paid off and Bycroft played at Ozark Christian College in Joplin, Mo.
Mid-career, Bycroft served as head coach for the boys basketball team at Tyro Community Christian School for two years.
After the 1998-1999 season at Tyro, Bycroft moved back to Joplin to finish up his degree at Missouri Southern State University.
“When I moved back to Joplin, it was with the intention of coaching high school basketball, that was what I wanted to do,” Bycroft said. “I was an education major at Missouri Southern. I was within a year and a half of being done with my teaching degree, but I felt like I was suppose to be doing ministry somehow.”
After that realization, Bycroft left Missouri Southern and returned to Ozark Christian for two years.
“I wanted to coach basketball,” Bycroft said. “That was my desire, but I gave that up because I thought that I was suppose to do something else with my life.
“I had given up on my passion for coaching high school basketball to be a part of the ministry because that seemed like what I was suppose to do.”
Bycroft moved to Iola when he was 26 years old and rediscovered his passion for sports at the youth level. While continuing his ministry, Bycroft coached nearly every youth sport he could in Iola.
“I didn’t ever get involved in youth basketball though, until my kids were old enough,” Bycroft said. “I can’t enjoy coaching youth basketball the same way as the other sports, because I take basketball so seriously.”
In the summer of 2008, Iola’s head high school basketball coaching job opened up. Knowing his background in the game, several community members pressured Bycroft to apply.
“I reluctantly applied for the job,” Bycroft said. “They also had a PE position open so I knew it was a long-shot. I didn’t get it and they hired Steve Taylor.”
The school offered Bycroft, who was the city recreation director as well, the freshman coaching position.
Bycroft did both jobs for a year, but then took the next year off from coaching to spend more time with his family.
“My wife saw how much I missed it,” Bycroft said.
When coach Bill Peeper took over the program the following year, Bycroft came back as the freshman coach in 2010.
The entire time, Bycroft stayed active in coaching youth sports and there is hardly any Mustang that hasn’t had Bycroft as a coach at some point in their careers.
Now Bycroft gets to put all that knowledge and experience to work for the kids he knows better than anyone as he finally has to opportunity to lead the Mustang program.
“This has always been something I wanted to do,” Bycroft said. “Knowing all the kids is an added bonus, but this is something I’ve always had the desire to do since I was in high school. My life took a bit of a turn, but this still ended up being part of it because it is such a passion of mine.”
DIFFERENT STYLE
Bycroft looks forward to making the Mustangs an aggressive team on both ends of the court with defense becoming a calling card.
“Defense was important to Coach Applegate, but offense was more important,” Bycroft said. “I am the opposite. You have to score and do things right on offense, but the most important thing we can do is have a good team defense.”
On offense, its all about attacking.
“I like to be aggressive going to the basket. I like players to be aggressive and draw defenders to make passes and draw fouls,” Bycroft said. “I like to get to the basket and get the ball inside. When you have a big guy, you better get the ball inside. Everything works when you work inside-out.”
One of those big guys that Bycroft is looking forward to featuring next season is 2017 First Team All-Pioneer League and Honorable Mention All-State forward Ethan Holloway. The 6’7” post player is excited to work under Bycroft.
“I am very excited to have him back as my head coach,” Holloway said. “I can’t wait to get started… Coach Bycroft will focus on defense more than Applegate did. Applegate was offensive minded the entire time and we didn’t practice defense very much. Practices will be a lot tougher and I think we will be in a lot better shape.
“We’ve all wanted it for him. When Coach Peeper left after my freshman year, we all expected it to be Bycroft and then it wasn’t and we were all surprised. We had a few good years with Applegate though.”
The feeling is mutual for Bycroft who can’t wait to develop Holloway.
“He has developed so well the last couple years,” Bycroft said. “The one thing that I want to get into his head is aggressiveness. He needs to believe that nobody can stop him. He has every skill you need with footwork, ability to use either hand, a good jump shot from 15 feet and he can even hit a three fairly consistently. He has all the skills in the world. Sometimes he gets an offensive rebound and he’d look to pass which it is great to be an team-first player, but when you are his size and you get an offensive rebound, your first option has to be to put the ball in the bucket.”
More than even the skill though, Bycroft loves Holloway’s attitude.
“He has skills, but he also has the desire to be good,” Bycroft said. “He puts in the work.”
With Bycroft in place as head coach, Holloway looks forward to a deep postseason run during his season year.
“There is no reason that we didn’t make it to state last year,” Holloway said. “This year we need to go to state and hopefully make it a few rounds and win. That is the expectation for me, I don’t expect to lose.”
