Stoney Creek hires Oakland County native Jeff Olind to take over boys hoops program
ROCHESTER HILLS » Born and raised in Oakland County, Jeff Olind will now coach there, joining the ranks of the OAA fraternity on the bench. Stoney Creek hired Olind as its new boys’ basketball coach last week.
Olind made his mark pacing the sidelines in the Macomb Athletic Conference at Warren-Mott over the past decade, leading the program to its first-ever regional title back in 2014 and developing future Michigan State captain Kenny Goins.
While coaching Mott, Olind won three MAC league championships. His 2014 Marauders beat Warren De La Salle in the district finals and Utica Eisenhower for the regional crown before falling to Yante Maten (Georgia) and Bloomfield Hills, 74-68, in the Class A quarterfinals down at Calihan Hall.
In high school in the 1990s, Olind played for Birmingham Groves. Olind’s wife is from Rochester Hills.
“Coming over to Stoney Creek, getting into the OAA, is just a great opportunity all the way around,” Olind said. “This is the right move at the right time.”
Some of Olind’s former Mott players will join him on his staff at Stoney Creek, including Blake Jackson (Bethune-Cookman/Macomb Community College) and Kaleb Towns (Sienna Heights). Goins is expected to chip in when he’s in the area and not playing overseas in Europe.
As a senior at Michigan State, Goins (a former walk-on) triggered the Spartans’ front court from his starting forward spot (eight points, eight rebounds per game) and hit the game-winning triple in the NCAA Tournament’s Elite 8 against topseeded Duke to send Michigan State to the 2019 Final Four.
“We’re going to emphasize fundamentals and playing fast, but in control,” said Olind of his intentions for the program’s style. “We strive for and preach consistency in preparation and hard work is always rewarded. I can tell right off the bat, this is a hard-working program already. These guys know how to grind and push for maximum effort. That’s a tribute to what was going on here before we got to town.”
Olind is quick to give the nod to the departing Steve Norgrove for putting Stoney Creek basketball on the map since he arrived in the early 2010s.
“Coach Norgrove obviously made a huge impact here, and nobody has a bigger appreciation for what he did and the fact that he left the program in much better condition than when he found it, than the guy coming in behind him,” Olind said. “Tradition is hard to come by and coach Norgrove gave Stoney Creek its first dose of tradition and we will always honor and respect that in what we’re trying to do as a staff.”
Under Norgrove, the Cougars collected three league titles and the first two district championships in program history. Norgrove’s 2021 team won the OAA White and advanced into the Division 1 regional finals where they lost to Macomb Dakota, 5852, in a down-to-the-wire contest. Norgrove stepped down last month to spend more time with his family.