Clint Hamilton takes over ‘tradition rich’ Highland girls basketball program
Clint Hamilton has only been a member of the Highland Bulldogs girls basketball coaching staff for three years, but he already knows the program well.
Recently named the Bulldogs' new head coach, Hamilton now has the task of upholding and building on that tradition.
"The girls play hard every day, and they know what it takes to have a successful program. Because of those things, they have established a heck of a tradition here at Highland," Hamilton said. "I like the challenge of upholding that tradition and hopefully making it better.
"I think the girls understand that. They know that because of the success teams of the past have had, that they have a target on their backs, and that they have to play hard every night."
Hamilton, 27, takes over head-coaching duties from Mike Arbuthnot, who resigned in March after leading the Bulldogs to a 19-11 record in the 2017-18 season. Arbuthnot, who was the Bulldogs' coach for the past five years, also retired from teaching at Roxana High School following the 2017-18 school year.
"Coach Arb is a great guy and excellent basketball coach who had a lot of success here at Highland. He was a great person to learn from, and I can take bits and pieces from his philosophy and help in forming my own," Hamilton said. "I am a very defensive-minded coach. Being from Pittsfield, that's what we stressed, and we've worked very hard in guarding in the man-to-man defense this summer."
Hamilton, who was the the head junior-varsity coach a year ago, has liked what he has seen this summer from his team. Highland competed in the Southwestern Illinois College High School Summer League and in other events.
The Bulldogs will end their summer with shootouts at Edwardsville and Central the next two weekends.
"We'll still be working. But it will be more with weight training and explosive jumping ... things like that where we can still get them in here once in a while," Hamilton said. "We've had a good summer, though. I think we're like 16-4, and we've played a good schedule against teams like Belleville East and Incarnate Word, and St. Joseph's Academy in St. Louis."
A native of Pittsfield, Hamilton played both basketball and baseball in high school. He then attended Hannibal-LaGrange University in Hannibal, Mo., where he played four years of college baseball.
While baseball was his first love, Hamilton has known for several years that he wanted to be a basketball coach.
"Brad (Tomhave) was the (boys) coach at Pittsfield, and he had a big influence on me and what I wanted to do. Just the day-to-day grind of what goes into coaching the game appealed to me," Hamilton said. "I just feel like you can influence the game a little more in basketball than baseball. Every play you've got a hand in."
Hamilton's first Highland team won't be short on talent. Despite graduating their second leading scorer in Rece Portell, the Bulldogs will return one of the top point guards in the St. Louis area in junior Ellie Brown, as well as senior guard Emmy Nyquist.
With those two players providing offense and stabilizing the Bulldogs' backcourt, post players Bella LaPorta, Madison Clarke, Taylor Kesner and Lexi Taylor range in height from 5-foot-11 to 6-2. And they can all play.
"We have a lot of options up front, and we'll be able to run them in and out. They're all good athletes," Hamilton said. "Having Ellie (Brown) back is a big plus. She's kind of the pulse of the team because she's been here for two years, and she kind of knows what she needs to do and how she still needs to grow and make this team better.
"The goal this year and every year is to win a regional and hopefully be a team that can get to the sectional and super-sectional. I see no reason why that can't happen," Hamilton said. These girls are working hard every day. That's one thing I really enjoy about coaching the girls: They are very receptive of what you are telling them to do. I'm really enjoying coaching this basketball team."
This story was originally published June 22, 2018 at 9:55 AM with the headline "Clint Hamilton takes over ‘tradition rich’ Highland girls basketball program."