Leading a class of 30 kids through a basketball drill in a hot gym while
clad in a shirt and tie, Corey Thacker looked every bit the part of
Douglas High School's next basketball coach.
"One of the things the school district does is they have applicants for
teaching positions teach a lesson in front of them," Douglas athletic
director Jeff Evans said. "We were looking for a teacher and a coach that
would be able to fit seamlessly into the program and mesh with the kids.
"We saw Corey with the kids and he just stood out. He fit both packages
that we were looking for and it's like he came to us gift-wrapped."
Thacker, who coached Spring Creek for the last six years (five as head
coach) and led the Spartans into the Northern 3A Regional semifinals last
season and into the Nevada 3A state tournament the year before, was hired
as Douglas' new boys' basketball coach this week.
It follows the same route of Douglas took with previous coach Rob
Streeter, who led Dayton to the 3A state finals several times before
making the leap to 4A ball.
"I talked with Rob about the job and talked a lot about it with my
family," Thacker said. "We really liked the community atmosphere. It's a
bigger town for us, but it still has that small-town feel."
Thacker said his primary focus as a coach has always been defense.
"Defense has to come first," he said. "We'll be looking to continue the
defensive tradition Rob established. Then we'll be looking to push the
ball and teach the kids how to react to certain situations."
Streeter, who in May accepted a coaching position at brand-new Clovis
North High School in California, took Douglas to the Northern 4A Regional
championship game last season where the Tigers lost a 56-55 nail-biter to
eventual state champ Galena.
"Corey is coming out of a similar situation to what Rob had at Dayton,"
Evans said. "He came in to a program that was 2 and something and turned
them into a contender.
"He's coming into a situation at Douglas where he won't have to turn
anything around, he'll just have to maintain and build on what we already
have. We're very excited about him as a coach."
"We heard so many good things about him, but the one quote that stood out
was someone told us that kids will run through a brick wall for this guy.
That's a pretty powerful statement.
Thacker came with high praise from Streeter.
"We saw each other for four seasons when I was still at Dayton and we were
very similar in our styles as coaches," Streeter said. "Whenever we played
Spring Creek, I knew his kids were going to play hard.
"He likes getting his kids to step up and be aggressive on defense. He
will be a great fit at Douglas High School and I think the team is really
going to like him."
Thacker is a native Nevadan and graduated from Elko High School in 1996.
He averaged 19.9 points per game as a senior for the Indians and was named
first-team All-Northern 4A, second-team all-state and an All-USA honorable
mention.
He broke Elko school records in career steals (115), career assists (152),
season 3-point percentage (41.7) and season 3-pointers made (82). He also
played football and ran track. He was a first-team all-state tight end in
football.
He went on to play guard at Albertson College in Idaho, where he stayed
for five years.
"This will be a big move for us," Thacker said. "College was the most time
I spent away from Elko. I hope this turns out to be a long-term situation.
The area, the job situation, it just fits our whole family."
"Just watching him teach the lesson, you can just see he's a very talented
and gifted athlete," Evans said. "He walked in there and boom, boom, he
had the kids going right along with them. We just had an immediate liking
for him as a teacher and as a coach."
Thacker said one of the hardest things about leaving would be saying
good-bye to his group at Spring Creek.
"It's hard trying to figure out what to say," he said. "You get to know
them so well and they work so hard."
Incidentally, Thacker also won silver medals at the U.S. Olympic Team
Handball Festival in 1995 and the Senior National Championship. He won a
gold medal at the Junior National Handball Championships.
"That was a funny thing," Thacker said. "I was at Dresslerville, of all
places, for a basketball tournament when I was still in high school.
"A guy from Fresno was going around recruiting people to play team
handball and I ended up playing with his group for about three years. We
did well. It was a fun experience."
Thacker will be moving to town with his wife and two children, ages 4 and
six months. He will teach physical education at Douglas next year.
"I think he's going to step right in and do a wonderful job," Evans said.
"You're not going to replace a Rob Streeter with a Rob Streeter. Corey
will start the Corey Thacker era here. We'll just wait to see what
happens."
