Carson High hires Reno assistant as basketball coach

Jordan Glover realized a dream when he was named head varsity basketball coach this week at Carson High School.

The 24-year-old Glover has been an assistant coach under Matt Ochs at Reno High School for the past three seasons.

Glover was among a handful of candidates to apply for the vacancy after veteran coach Carlos Mendeguia resigned a couple of weeks after the 2016-17 season ended with a first-round playoff loss.

“I’m very thankful and blessed to have this opportunity to continue my dream,” Glover said. “Carson has welcomed me with open arms. When I started teaching here, I always thought about the option of being here as a coach. I’ve been blessed to be at Reno the past three seasons. I was able to do a lot. Coach Ochs let me do almost everything I wanted to do. If I’d gone anywhere else as an assistant I wouldn’t have had the leeway to do all that I wanted to do.

“When I came here originally, they (the administration) threw out that option that maybe the job would open up one day and I could help out for a couple of years. When I got hired permanently, it went from there. Teaching and coaching go hand in hand.”

Blair Roman, Carson athletic director, was impressed with Glover’s knowledge and maturity.

“In checking around, Jordan has been a big part of the success at Reno the past three seasons, and he had a good mentor in Matt Ochs,” Roman said. “We are hoping he brings a little bit of that success to the table. I think he is a rising star in terms of coaching in Northern Nevada.

“I like how he carries himself. He is mature beyond his years. I’m very impressed with his philosophy toward kids, and I think he’ll do some good things here.”

And, Glover received high praise from his former coach.

“Jordan is an enthusiastic, energetic coach,” said Ochs, a former player at Nevada. “He has one of the smartest basketball minds I have ever been around, and he has been an integral part of our success serving as our offensive coordinator. He brings a new perspective to each practice and game and is more than ready to be a head basketball coach.

“While I am sad to see him go, I am happy for the opportunities that he has as both a teacher and coach at Carson High School. Carson High has hired someone who is willing to put in the work to develop a program from youth leagues all the way through to the varsity level. I will miss him greatly.”

Don’t be fooled by Glover’s age. He has been involved in coaching for eight years, both at Reno and with the Nevada Basketball Academy.

Basketball is in his blood. His father, Jason Glover, was an assistant men’s coach at Nevada from 1993-2000.

He also worked with the NBA Minnesota Timberwolves in player development and with the Tulsa Shock of the WNBA. He also coached women at Utah Valley University and New Mexico State, and last week was hired at USC.

“I was a senior when he got the job with Minnesota,” said Jordan. “That was so cool. I saw him work out hundreds of players. When I came back to the area and went to UNR (to finish my degree), I took over my dad’s AAU program (Nevada Basketball Academy) and started working individually with players and other coaches. I fell in love with it (coaching). I really got to know the players. I did a lot of 1-on-1 work. I was more of a player development person.

“I always picked his brain. When I told my dad (about the job), he was pumped. We have been preparing for this for a couple of months. It was very emotional. He just recently wound up at USC, and that was a huge step up. The Pac-12 is the top conference in the country. They sent six teams to the tournament.”

Glover’s philosophy on offense is ball movement.

“We want to put athletes in position to be successful,” he said.

“If we have a real good shooter, we’re hoping to put him in spots where he can catch and shoot the ball. If we have a good big man, we want to put him in situations where we can create mismatches.”

Glover said he would like to be up tempo, but he also admitted there are times to run and times to pull back.

Under Ochs, Reno played 90 percent 2-3 zone and 10 percent man-to-man.

“I learned a lot about the zone at Reno,” he admitted.

“It helped us a lot. If you face a team that can’t shoot, you pack it in and don’t give up any open drives. I would like us to balance between man and zone.”

Glover said he has yet to meet with all of the players returning to the program. Some, like Trent Robison, have been playing club basketball in Reno.

Glover did say he has hired Roger Carlson as his assistant coach.

Carlson also worked with Glover at Reno.