Jennings gives his stamp of approval to Deaton’s hiring

One of Jennings’ former coaches, Matt Lange, recently stepped down as the Berries’ head coach. Deaton was the JV coach under Lange the last four seasons.

“I would be remiss not to tell Coach Lange congrats as well,” Jennings said. “A lot of people don’t realize that Matt Lange was actually my group’s seventh grade coach at Lincoln Middle School years ago. And he obviously came up to the high school program as we did. And so he was just a big part of what we did being on the coaching staff years ago. And I think over the last decade he’s just had a big impact on the program that I think goes far beyond just the win-loss column. And I think as far as his impact on me and a lot of my teammates, I think that’s not going away anytime soon. So I just wanted to say congrats to Coach Lange.

“And obviously his wife Lori has been a big part of what they’ve done over the last four years as in regards to just a lot of change. Obviously he came in after a couple of quick coaching changes. He came in during a period where we changed conferences, there’s just been a lot of change in the program over the last several years. And I think Coach has done a great job, and I think he’s gonna do a great job handing the program off to Haden.”

One of the things Deaton mentioned that made the job so appealing to him is Logansport is now one of the biggest Class 3A schools in the state after being one of the smallest Class 4A schools for nearly three decades since multi-class basketball was enacted.

One can only wonder what Jennings and his teams could have accomplished in Class 3A, or for that matter, his older sisters Whitney, Rachel and Shannon or older brother Jared.

Jennings noted that in the 2016-17 season alone the Berries defeated the Class 3A state runner-up that year, Twin Lakes, and the defending Class 3A state runner-up, Evansville Bosse, let alone their wins against Class 4A teams like McCutcheon, Lawrence North and Noblesville.

“I think that’s always a wonder because you still remember every game no matter how many years removed, you still just remember about every single game you’ve ever played, some of those thoughts and memories don’t go away,” Jennings said. “But I think about obviously just being in a different class now, the landscape has changed a little bit and I think there’s a lot of opportunity there. I think about my senior year, Twin Lakes was runner-up in the 3A State Finals and they had a really good and talented class that was in the same group as my group coming up. And so they were always really competitive in the state tournament.

“So I think there’s a lot of opportunity there and I think about even my uncle Kent Adams’ teams over at Twin Lakes, they’ve had years where they’ve had some really talented groups. They’ve had some years where they weren’t always the most talented, but I think he’s always found a way to give him a chance to win the conference and try to win the sectional. And I think moving into the future, it’s hard for me to not think that we’re not gonna have a fighting chance every year, which it’s got to be exciting for the kids that are coming up in the ranks and coming up in the program as far as the future goes.”

As far as their head-to-head matchups, Deaton’s Mavericks went 4-1 against Jennings’ Berries and won three straight sectional titles in Deaton’s three-year varsity career. But the Berries did win the last matchup at McCutcheon en route to an historic NCC title, just their fourth in their 98 years in the league and the first in 40 years.

“I think my time as an athlete shared with and against Haden can be defined with one word and that’s competition,” Jennings said. “We’re both competitors. No matter what we’ve done as far as on the basketball court or other things, we’ve been competitive and I think that’s what drove a lot of our success. But it’s funny, there was about a month ago, maybe a little longer than that when we had the mascot night for Felix’s birthday. And they had that alumni event and that gala. And so I had to call Haden Deaton to get a jersey to wear to that event. And it’s funny how this McCutcheon Maverick is letting me in my own locker room here at the Berry Bowl. And so Haden and I are just laughing and just kind of shaking our heads as that happened. But it’s funny how this kind of has all come full circle as far as not only being rivals on the court but then teammates playing AAU ball together and college ball together, and obviously roommates. And so it’s just been really cool and really special.

“And that’s where I think people around here understand it, but high school basketball is just a special thing. Really for me, it’s the last time you get to officially play with your childhood best friends in front of your hometown. And so I just can’t think of a better person that understands the importance and the history surrounding that. And I think as far as our competition and rivalry on the court, I think he’s gonna continue to just build on that and create his own moments and memories and rivalries in the future. And the kids and the players that he’s gonna have are gonna be a part of that. And they’re just gonna find a lot of success along the way. I am very confident in that.”