Tate gets the jump on next season as Saints’ new basketball coach

Ricardo Tate wasted no time in getting down to work in his new post as head coach of the St. Clair Saints men’s basketball team.

A day after being promoted to the position after Jimmy Parsons stepped down for family reasons, the 35-year-old Tate was holding his first workout Wednesday at the St. Clair SportsPlex.

“The OCAA only allows one night a week (to work out) for 90 minutes during the summer,” Tate said. “I don’t want to wait until September to get these guys ready. That would be too late.”

Parsons led the Saints to back-toback playoff appearances after taking over the team midway through the 2015-16 season when Luc Stevenson was let go, but stepped down to focus on his young family and professional career.

“We kind of talked about it over the past few days,” Tate said of Parsons’ decision to step down. “I’m excited for the challenge and to try and build on what Jimmy, myself, (assistant coaches) Reid (Innes) and Brendon (Seguin) did in turning the team around.”

Tate said Innes is also not returning to the team for family reasons. He’s hoping to round out his staff quickly.

“I had applied for the job two years ago,” said Tate, who had been an assistant under Matt Devin. “I got interviewed and Luc Stevenson got the job.

“I came back when Jimmy came back. At the same time, my head wasn’t about head coaching. I was coaching my daughter and I just wanted to take a back seat and learn.”

A former standout at Herman high school, Tate was endorsed by Parsons and was offered the job after meeting with St. Clair vicepresident Ron Seguin.

Tate had been involved in recruiting duties for years and doesn’t expect that to be an issue. He had Kennedy standouts Glenn Willis Paris and Ali Mansour checking out Wednesday’s workout.

Naturally, Tate will make some changes to put his stamp on the team, but he also wants to keep some of the elements from Parsons that got the Saints to the playoffs.

“We’ll change a few things,” said Tate, who played briefly for the Saints. “I don’t want to change too much because there are a lot of guys here from last year.

“I especially want to keep the way we played defence under Jimmy, but I also like to play an uptempo game. Not run and gun, but when it’s there, take it.”

I especially want to keep the way we played defence under Jimmy, but I also like to play an uptempo game.