Hillman Becomes Basketball Town, Too

January 6, 2017

By Dennis Chase
Special for Second Half

HILLMAN – Eric Muszynski still remembers that day in 2005 when, as the newly appointed boys basketball coach at Hillman, he made a promise to the man who hired him, administrator Jack Richards.

As they gazed at the banners in the school gymnasium – highlighted by the school’s three MHSAA Class D championships in baseball – Muszynski vowed to add some basketball banners to the collection.

“He (Richards) chuckled,” Muszynski recalled. “He said, ‘Try to get to .500 first.’”

Historically, Hillman’s been a baseball town. The Tigers played for MHSAA championships four times in six years during the 1990s.

“Basketball was something you did to stay in shape for baseball,” said Richards, who went on to serve as superintendent for five years. “Eric’s turned that around.”

Since 2009, Hillman has won four North Star Conference basketball championships, five Districts and one Regional. The Tigers stretched their regular-season win streak to 44 after Thursday night’s 68-38 victory over Mio. Their last regular-season loss was to Cedarville in the 2014-15 opener.

Quite a turnaround for a program that had won only one league title prior to Muszynski’s arrival.

“And that wasn’t an outright title,” senior guard Gunnar Libby said.

Libby, a first-team Associated Press all-state pick last season, is the catalyst for this 5-0 Tigers team. A four-year varsity veteran, Libby has played a vital role in the program’s growth. Hillman won its first outright league title when he was a freshman, captured its first Regional crown when he was a sophomore, and posted its first unbeaten regular season when he was a junior.

“I’ve been really lucky to play on some good teams,” he said.

The turnaround did not happen overnight. The Tigers were 10-32 in Muszynski’s first two years.

“I remember thinking to myself, ‘Will we ever get over that hump?’” Muszynski wondered.

His boss stood by him.

“I had some people come to my office, saying he wasn’t the guy for the job,” Richards said. “I told them, ‘Settle down. This guy will bring us championships.’ Eric heard me, and he took it to heart. He worked hard to prove me right.”

In his third season, Muszynski led Hillman to an 11-10 mark. From there, the program took off.

“It’s been truly amazing,” the former Alpena High School standout said. “As a coach, you envision and hope that your program can do big things. We’ve been in that conversation – of trying to get down to East Lansing (for the Final Four) – since 2013 when we almost upset Cedarville (a double overtime loss) in the Regional Final.”

Hillman, sparked by Mason VanPamel and Ty Jones, reached the Quarterfinals in 2015 before losing to eventual champion Powers North Central.

It looked like the Tigers might be in for a rebuild last season, losing eight seniors and four starters to graduation. Instead, Hillman won its first 22 games before losing to Onaway 58-57 in the District Final.

“We were counted out from the very beginning,” Libby said. “We proved everybody wrong.”

Still, the setback to Onaway – a team Hillman had knocked out of the Districts the previous three years – left a bitter taste. Onaway reached the Quarterfinals, but that loss motivates the Tigers.

When his team first gathered for practice this season, Muszynski stressed the importance of “protecting” its league title as well as recapturing the District championship. Hillman had won three Districts in a row before its sudden exit last March.

“That District (trophy) should be in Hillman,” Libby said.

That statement reflects how far this program has evolved. It’s a program that’s now won 46 consecutive league games and 36 consecutive home games.

Those streaks continue to grow, although Libby admitted he’s lost count.

“You just go out there and do what you’ve got to do,” he said.

The 5-foot-9 Libby is the floor general and lone senior in the starting lineup. He averages 25 points and six assists per game. He surpassed 1,000 career points in the season opener when he dropped 30 on Cedarville.

“He’s lightning quick,” Muszynski said. “He’s a tough kid; a hard-nosed, old school style point guard.”

Libby’s backcourt mate, 5-10 junior Brandon Banks, averages nearly 15 a game.

“That’s been our recipe for success since 2009,” Muszynski said. “We usually feature two dynamic scorers.”

Andrew Funk, a 6-foot junior, is also averaging in double figures. He scored 19 in Tuesday’s win, hitting five of Hillman’s 13 3-pointers.

The Tigers compensate for lack of size with speed, a trapping defense and a dangerous perimeter game. Kory Henigan, a 6-4 sophomore, and Billy Kolcan, a 6-1 junior, are the tallest starters. Henigan averages eight points and seven rebounds while the athletic Kolcan, an MHSAA Finals qualifier in track and an honorable mention all-state player in football, spearheads the press.

“He (Kolcan) plays up front on our press,” Muszynski said. “He makes us go. He’s one of the best athletes to come through our school in a long time.”

Kolcan, Banks and Funk were on varsity as sophomores last season.

“On paper, it appears we’re young,” Muszynski said. “But we’re battle-tested.”

And, according to Libby, cohesive, too.

“We work well together,” Libby said. “We’re unselfish – and we scrap.”

Now, the Tigers would like to start playing more basketball. Hillman played just three games in December after two contests were postponed due to weather.

“It’s hard to get any kind of rhythm and consistency when you play two games, then you’re off two weeks, you play one game, then you’re off another two weeks,” Libby said.

As for Muszynski, this is his 12th season at Hillman. He was hired as a physical education/health/social studies teacher and girls basketball coach. When the boys job opened soon afterward, he added that to his responsibilities. He coached both teams for two years before the MHSAA switched girls basketball season to the winter. Even though the girls were 30-12 in those two seasons under his leadership, he felt coaching boys basketball was his calling.

“I liked the challenge,” he said. “With the girls, I walked into a good program. With the boys, I wanted to see if I could build a program.”

With a win over Rudyard just before the holiday break, the 37-year-old Muszynski notched his 200th career win at Hillman (30 with the girls, 170 with the boys).

“He’s been a real blessing for us,” Libby said. “He’s a great coach. He holds us all accountable. He’s thorough, and he can motivate. He knows his stuff.”

“I’m truly blessed,” Muszynski added. “That’s (200 wins) a credit to my players, past and present.”

Muszynski echoed those same sentiments after he won the Associated Press Class D Coach of the Year honor last season.

“One of the proudest moments in my coaching career,” he admitted. “Not only was it a great reward, but it was a reflection of our basketball program here.”

Richards, meanwhile, takes satisfaction in the basketball program’s accomplishments. Now retired, he still follows the Tigers – and Muszynski.

What did he see in Muszynski when he hired him in 2005?

“He has a drive,” Richards said. “He knows what it takes and the work that’s involved. A lot of people just want to work during the season, and when it’s over they’re done. That’s not Eric. He’s a worker, a planner. You could see his desire.”

Richards also feared, once the boys started winning, that Muszynski might leave for a bigger school. He even mentioned that to Muszynski.

“Eric said, ‘You gave me the opportunity to be a head coach and I want to do right by you,’” Richards recalled. “I said, ‘I understand that. But let me give you a piece of advice: it’s easier to build a dynasty in a small town than in a large town.’ I think he’s done a pretty good job with that.”

Muszynski looked north to Cedarville for inspiration. Coach Dave Duncan developed that program into a state contender. The Trojans won an MHSAA title in 2007 and nearly another two years later.

“I thought if a small Class D school in the Upper Peninsula can do that, why can’t we?” Muszynski reasoned.

One of Muszynski’s first priorities was to start applying his philosophies in the youth program so by the time those players reached the varsity they would know the defensive schemes and offensive sets.

“They’ve seen success so they know the formula works,” Muszynski said. “If you have some success, and start to win championships, everyone starts to buy in.”

As for baseball? Practice is still several weeks away.

“When I first got there,” Richards recalled, “the kids, after basketball practice, would put their gloves on and throw the baseball around. They even had a batting cage in the old gym. Now, you don’t see a baseball glove in the gym during the winter.”

Now you see basketball banners.

Dennis Chase worked 32 years as a sportswriter at the Traverse City Record-Eagle, including as sports editor from 2000-14. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Manistee, Wexford, Missaukee, Roscommon, Ogemaw, Iosco, Alcona, Oscoda, Crawford, Kalkaska, Grand Traverse, Benzie, Leelanau, Antrim, Otsego, Montmorency, Alpena, Presque Isle, Cheboygan, Charlevoix and Emmet counties.

PHOTOS: (Top) Gunnar Libby, who has scored more than 1,000 points during his Hillman career, cuts through a group of defenders. (Middle) Hillman coach Eric Muszynski addresses his team. (Photos courtesy of The Alpena News.)

Lumen Christi Building Toward Banner Aspirations under Tropea's Guidance

By Doug Donnelly
Special for MHSAA.com

March 26, 2024

Among the first things Josh Tropea noticed when he took the boys basketball coaching job at Jackson Lumen Christi were all the state championship banners.

Greater DetroitNot for boys basketball, but for multiple other sports.

“I’m a confident coach, confident in my abilities and knowledge,” Tropea said. “You have to have some self-confidence to come in here when there are 54 state championships in other sports and none in basketball.”

Tropea wants to change that. In his second year at the Jackson County school, he came close, getting the Titans to the Division 3 Quarterfinals. The Regional title was the program’s first since 2013. He feels, however, the foundation has been set for what he thinks will be a bright future.

“We are super deep,” Tropea said. “Our freshman class is very good, the eighth-grade class is very good. We have talent coming for years. I believe we will have the ability to play for state championships in the future. We were there this year, I think.”

Tropea has made a habit of resurrecting programs during his coaching career.  The South Lyon native started at Walled Lake Western while still in college. He had brief coaching stints at Whitmore Lake and Howell before settling in at Milan, where he built that school into a Class B powerhouse, winning the Finals championship in 2013-14 and going 92-27.

Lumen players, including Lundon Hampton (23) apply defensive pressure.He left Milan for a job at Chelsea, did that for a couple of seasons and left to become an assistant coach at Spring Arbor University. He came back to Chelsea for two seasons before resigning and landing at Lumen Christi two years ago.

The Titans have had moderate success over the years, winning several conference and District titles and six Regional championships in all. They have just one trip to the Semifinals, that coming back in 1975. In 2016 the Titans fell on hard times, winning just once and starting a seven-year span of failing to reach .500 once.

Enter Tropea and an 11-win improvement from 3-18 in 2021-22 to 14-10 last season.

This year’s team went 22-5 and became just the seventh in school history to win 20 games in a season.

There were several big moments, and the Lumen Christi gym was packed night in and night out.

“I told people when I got here that I’ll know I’m successful when I can pack this gym. It seats about 3,500,” Tropea said. “When we walked out of the locker room to play Hanover-Horton in the Regional, every seat in the gym was filled. Where there weren’t bleachers, there were people standing. It was unbelievable. In the second half of the game, you couldn’t hear. Everything had to be communicated through hand signals. That was a huge moment. My players may never play in front of anything like that again in their lives.”

Lumen Christi has been a football powerhouse for decades, and Tropea is fine with that. This past season all of his players but three were from the football team that won the Division 7 championship.

Tropea said it was an easy transition to their winter sport.

“I coach great athletes who are prepared for success, who are coached hard, watch film and know how to compete,” Tropea said. “The football program takes all the hard stuff off my plate. I just get to coach basketball.”

The next piece to sustaining a top-five team, he believes, is improving the players’ skill level. For that, he’ll lean on a coaching staff that includes Tyler Aldridge, the varsity coach for five seasons before Tropea arrived.

“Tyler is incredible with the kids, great at skill work,” he said.

Tropea joined a coaching fraternity at Lumen Christi. The school’s first basketball coach was Justin Perticone, followed by Mike Ramker, Dan Crowley, Rick Karasek and, before Aldridge, Pat Neville.

A full bleachers of Titans fans cheer on their team.“At one point or another, all six of those guys were at practice or at our games this year,” Tropea said. “It’s such a cool thing. Coach Ramker was in the front row for all our games. After the games, I hang out with some of our former coaches. I’m in a golf league with one of them. We are all connected and support one another. It truly is a brotherhood here. Once you are here, you are part of the Lumen family.”

Ramker called it unique. He coached Ann Arbor St. Thomas to a 1974 Class D championship, then Lumen Christi from 1977 to 1994. He returned for one more season in 2009-10 and was coaching in the program until last year.

“The school definitely has built that culture,” Ramker said. “That’s one of the things I’ve always loved about Lumen Christi.”

A tough non-league slate helped the Titans get on a roll when the postseason began.

Kalamazoo Hackett Catholic Prep, Adrian Lenawee Christian, Michigan Center and eventual Division 3 champion Niles Brandywine were on the regular-season schedule, along with Catholic High School League foe Riverview Gabriel Richard, another Division 3 Semifinal team that Lumen Christi played three times, winning once.

“We feel like we are way more prepared going into the state playoffs than the teams we are playing,” Tropea said.

As he builds next year’s schedule, the goal remains to get ready for the MHSAA Tournament.

“We return six kids who played major minutes for us and four guys who started for us,” he said. “Our young guys will be in tough situations next year, but I know they are ready.

“The seniors I have returning next year were on a 14-win team as sophomores, and a 22-win team as a junior. We’ve changed our mentality. We’re not playing for league titles. Our focus is on March, and our kids have bought into that. If we lose a game in the middle of the season, that’s not going to bother them.”

Doug DonnellyDoug Donnelly has served as a sports and news reporter and city editor over 25 years, writing for the Daily Chief-Union in Upper Sandusky, Ohio from 1992-1995, the Monroe Evening News from 1995-2012 and the Adrian Daily Telegram since 2013. He's also written a book on high school basketball in Monroe County and compiles record books for various schools in southeast Michigan. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Jackson, Washtenaw, Hillsdale, Lenawee and Monroe counties.

PHOTOS (Top) Jackson Lumen Christi coach Josh Tropea, kneeling, huddles with his team this season. (Middle) Lumen players, including Lundon Hampton (23) apply defensive pressure. (Below) A full bleachers of Titans fans cheer on their team. (Photos by Rick Bradley.)