New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
Coaches on court, friends off it to meet for state title
When West Haven boys basketball coach Tyrese Sullivan walked into the dining area at TPC River Highlands in Cromwell Thursday morning, he and Windsor coach Ken Smith shared a hug.
The two coaches spent plenty of time together in the past coaching AAU for the Connecticut Basketball Club (CBC). Sullivan still calls Smith one of his mentors.
On Saturday night, the two coaches will share a sideline together at the Mohegan Sun Arena with a CIAC Division II championship on the line. No. 2 seed Windsor will face No. 12 West Haven in the final of five championship games that day. Tip time is 8:15 p.m.
“Ken played an integral part in my career,” Sullivan said at the CIAC media luncheon for the state championship games. “Ken was one of the guys who made me think it was possible to do (coach), a young Black male from the inner city.”
Smith has been the head coach at Windsor for over three decades. When he first started coaching, legendary Wilbur Cross coach Bob Saulsbury was the first coach to set up a scrimmage with Windsor. He remembers walking into Cross High gymnasium and seeing the 1974 banner honoring the Governors for finishing as the No. 1 team in the nation.
Another mentor for Smith was former Harding-Bridgeport coach Charlie Bentley, who remains a close friend. He was also friends with former Hillhouse coach Tom Fleming and he remembers watching and coaching against one of Fleming’s star point guards: Ty Sullivan.
After completing his college playing career at the
University of Rhode island, Sullivan began coaching AAU with Smith for the Connecticut Basketball Club, spending many nights on the road, coaching and listening to story after story.
“He is somebody I always looked up to. He always shared information with me,” Sullivan said.
Sullivan returned to coach at his alma mater under Kermit Carolina and then Renard Sutton, both of whom have combined for five state championships. When he applied for the West Haven job in 2018, he asked Smith to write him a letter of recommendation.
“That’s what you do,”
Smith said. “I said, ‘Hey, where do you want me to send it? I try to help guys grow because you want the game to grow.”
And now they are coaching against each other for the first time as head coaches.
“I’m proud of what he’s done,” Smith said, “His kids, I watch them. They are what he was like when he played at Hillhouse.”
Windsor, the No. 3 team in the GameTimeCT Top 10 poll, is on a 12-game winning streak that included capturing the CCC championship. West Haven reached the semifinals of the SCC tournament.
Then the Westies pulled three straight seeded upsets against No. 5 Holy Cross-Waterbury, No. 4 New Britain — both of those games on the road — and No. 8 Stamford to get to Saturday’s game at the Mohegan Sun Arena.
“I don’t think it has hit them yet because no one really expected us to be here, so we’re soaking it in,” Sullivan said.
Smith chimed in, “Except you.” Sullivan laughed.
If West Haven prevails Saturday night, it would be the school’s first CIAC boys basketball championship since 1987.
“It will be a really tough game. I know Ty has really prepared his kids well,” Smith said. “They are really physical, really tough, very athletic and play good defense. We’ve got to match their intensity.”
The two men are friends now. Smith admits he doesn’t like coaching against his friends. But this is on the big stage and a chance for Windsor to win its first state title in a decade.
“He’s a competitor, I’m a competitor,” Sullivan said. “We’re going to go out there and guys are going to play hard and may the best man win.”