Immediately after MSHSAA TV announcers awkwardly interviewed Tonya Rains as Chadwick’s head coach Saturday, Shawn Guerin spoke as the Cardinals’ head coach at a press conference under a MSHSAA banner.
MSHSAA stirred confusion again this past weekend by not recognizing Guerin as the Cardinals’ coach at the Class 1 Final Four, similar to the befuddlement created a year ago when MSHSAA didn’t reference him as the Lady Cardinals’ coach at the Class 1 Final Four.
In contrast, Guerin left no uncertainty regarding his future.
“I won't be back as the girls coach,” Guerin said, while announcing his double-duty days at Chadwick are over after two standout seasons with the Cardinals and Lady Cardinals.
Being courtside for an average of four games a week, while also holding practices, understandably wore on Guerin.
“Maybe relief a little bit,” he said when asked if he was relieved not to be doing the work of two coaches. “But those girls are all like daughters to me. I love them all. They're a great group to work with.”
Over the past two seasons, Guerin led the Lady Cardinals to 25 wins and a Class 1 state runner-up finish a year ago and 20 wins and a Class 1 District 2 championship this year.
Meanwhile, Guerin’s Cardinals have four straight seasons with 20 wins or more, culminating in their Class 1 state championship this year.
All this at his alma mater.
Guerin isn’t sure there is a coaching job anywhere that would ever make him want to leave Chadwick.
“Me and coach (Dusty) Dinkins at South Iron and a few other coaches have talked about small-town basketball and how it doesn't get the credit it deserves,” Guerin said. “There is a huge fan base behind these small school teams. It's special, it really is.”
MSHSAA doesn’t recognize Guerin as Chadwick’s head coach since he isn’t employed as a faculty member at the school, thus Rains holds the title on paper.
“Hopefully, I get to keep the boys (job) and keep doing that,” Guerin said. “We’ll see what happens.”
Guerin would like to receive a Blue & Gold Tournament invite for the Cardinals next season. A year ago, the Lady Cardinals were awarded a Pink & White Lady Classic invite.
“We're trying to get in,” Guerin said. “We’ll talk to (Blue & Gold director Darren Taylor). We understand there is a long list to get in. Hopefully, we can get in it.
“We're going to shuffle some things around and bump up our schedule even more,” he added.
Chadwick will surely tip off next season as the No. 1 ranked team in Class 1. The Cardinals will return four starters and five of their top six players from this season.
“We’ve got some more reinforcements coming,” Guerin said, referring to eighth-graders at Chadwick. “I'm not making any promises (of a repeat). But we’re going to keep working and see if we can do it again.”
