Tim Sheehan extends his fist to every Agawam boys basketball player during layup lines, inviting a bump. The Brownies coach asks them how they’re doing off the court, as well, during these exchanges.
“He’s really personable, he loves to get to know us,” Agawam senior point guard Dylan Wesley said. “He knows when to joke around, when we’re in a joking mood, he adjusts to us. And when he’s ready to get serious it’s easy for us to adjust to him and lock down on a practice.”
It’s Sheehan’s first year coaching at Agawam after 21 years leading Granby’s boys program.
There’s a lot to adjust to, starting with the commute. Sheehan works in Agawam and graduated from there in 1986, so it’s only a five-minute drive from work at Specialty Bolt and Screw compared to a half hour to Granby.
“It is different. You get used to making that drive every day,” Sheehan said. “You miss all the little quirks when you were at a certain place as long as I was. Twenty-one years is a long time.”
Agawam is four times the size of Granby, both the town’s population and the number of students at the school. That’s a different environment, even if it’s home.
“Granby was small, smaller town. Everybody knows everybody,” Sheehan said. “When you come into this atmosphere, it’s a bigger school with ton of kids.”
Seventy two of them showed up to tryouts.
“That’s like a senior class at Granby. It kind of gets your attention,” Sheehan said. “It’s been a good, quick adjustment because it’s where I grew up and where I wanted to be eventually. I’m here. It kind of is a challenge and it’s been a challenge I’ve been willing to accept.”
Sheehan has demanded defensive effort and execution since he took over, teaching the Brownies his man-to-man system after they’d played mostly zone in their careers. He gives his players more freedom to improvise on offense when they’re following the program defensively. When they slip, he calls a set play every time down the floor.
“I know they don’t like that because that’s not basketball,” Sheehan said. “It’s a give and take thing you’ve got to have with these kids. They have picked up defensively a little more quickly than I thought they would.”
Some of that instruction has come from another Granby import: former Rams girls coach Tom Burke. He stepped away from the Granby program before the 2020-21 season after the school announced its intention to practice and play games outside. His longtime junior varsity coach Erin Sweeney took over last season, and he figured she’d continue in the role this year.
Sweeney had some complications pop up at school working in Chicopee and also has a young child. She thought it would be too much for her to juggle all of it.
“I said if that’s how you feel, you’ve got to do what’s best for you and your family,” Burke said. “Doesn’t change my mind, I was willing to help Erin, but I’m done at Granby. I wasn’t going to coach, I didn’t plan on coaching.”
Well, plans change. Sheehan asked Burke if he would help him run tryouts. There were 72 kids, a lot for one man to handle amidst everything else new and familiar.
“We have a very similar philosophy about coaching,” Sheehan said. “You can be a good coach but you’re a better coach when you surround yourself with good people.”
Burke initially teetered. He gave Sheehan a lot of “I’ll think about its” before he came on board. Agawam is just across the bridge from his house in Springfield. He and Sheehan had previously coached their sons’ AAU teams together. Thinking about it, coaching again made sense.
“I don’t have that head coaching responsibility,” Burke said. “There’s a lot of things that go with it. I don’t miss that.”
Burke agreed to scout, too. It would let him stay around the Western Massachusetts hoops scene and watch friends’ teams and former players, too.
Sheehan reeled him in slowly. He noticed how Burke interacted with Agawam’s players during tryouts and the first weeks of practice and set the hook. Sheehan asked Burke to demonstrate defensive drills and let him start to bond with the players. He knew how much Burke loves practice.
“I got into it. I got a little excited coaching again,” Burke said. “I always loved practice. I love the teaching part of the game.”
Burke joined Sheehan as an assistant and comes to nearly every game and practice. Sheehan is grateful to have his former compatriot at his alma mater. He hopes his players appreciate Burke just as much.
“We just hope and pray that these kids are sucking up all the knowledge because Coach Burke has a lot of knowledge,” Sheehan said. “He’s invested and the kids see it and the kids respect him. He’s just one of those guys where if you show him the respect, he’ll show it right back to you. He’s been fantastic.”
As has Agawam’s start. The Brownies are 10-4 this season, already their most wins since 2015-16, when they had 13.
“I didn’t know if we’d hit the ground running with the record that we have. I thought that these guys would have to try to get used to me and the style that I want to play,” Sheehan said.
Granby still plays the style Sheehan coached. The Rams are 8-2 led by an experienced core Sheehan molded with his former junior varsity coach Dylan Dubuc now in charge. Sheehan still roots for the Rams and went to their game against East Longmeadow on Jan. 15. He went into the locker room and visited with his former players and assistant.
“There’s still a passion. I look at their score every time to try to find out how they’re doing, I reach out, wish them luck,” Sheehan said. “I try to make sure I’m not overstepping my bounds because it is Coach Dubuc’s team.”
Occasionally the new gym’s colors catch Sheehan’s eye. Brown and orange stand out from the blue and white he got used to. He digests where he is, what he’s doing and why he’s there. It remains an adjustment.
“There’s times where I think about it all the time,” Sheehan said. “But I also think about, this is where I am now, and I’m all in.”
Kyle Grabowski can be reached at kgrabowski@gazettenet.com.