Al Blount set to become Pen Argyl's next boys basketball coach

http://blogs.mcall.com/groller/ FROM KEITH GROLLER Former Bethlehem Catholic and Lincoln Leadership Academy coach Al Blount is set to become the next boys basketball coach at Pen Argyl. He has been recommended by the athletic council and is expected to be to approved by the school board on Tuesday night. The 52-year-old Blount, who played basketball for Terry German at Dieruff, had wanted to get back into coaching almost from the moment he resigned from Lincoln in March. He guided the charter school -- in the program's first year of existence -- to a 12-12 record, but expressed some philosophical differences when he left. Previously, he was at Becahi for three seasons, posting a record of 24-42, 7-35 in the Lehigh Valley Conference. He was eager to get back at a larger school and Pen Argyl had an opening after Coy Stampone left to become the head coach at Northampton. “I'm ecstatic,” Blount said. “Pen Argyl has been around for 100 years. Whoever thought I'd be coaching at Pen Argyl, but the bottom line is it doesn't matter where the kids come from -- Parkland, Emmaus, Pen Argyl -- I want to teach kids basketball and teach kids life lessons. I am looking forward to it.” Don Dentith, Pen Argyl's all-time leading scorer, is a good friend of Blount's and runs The Feeder Program, an AAU youth basketball program, with him. “We've had numerous kids from Pen Argyl in our program, so it is not unfamiliar to me,” Blount said. “I look forward to coaching the kids at Pen Argyl. I look forward to letting the parents know that we're all one team. We can't be successful without the parents. That's my mantra going in. We need the parents to buy in. We need good conversations at home and when that happens, you can have success without any outside forces trying to derail the train. “It's very important that I get up there and earn the respect of the parents and earn the respect of the kids and then the rest is easy.” Athletic director Tim Egan said that Blount was chosen because “he's the best candidate, by far. He has the most experience in terms of high school coaching and his playing career. He has experience in coaching kids from his youth program. He's just the best fit because he is very enthusiastic and his passion for basketball and helping children is very clear.” Egan said there was less than 10 applicants, but “we still had four candidates who we were very happy to interview.” The Pen Argyl School District has been locked in a dispute with a parent who has alleged that his sons have been victimized by racism in regard to playing time on the basketball team. The district took the step of having the parent banned from district events in January after the parent was cited for allegedly making defamatory comments and posting videos about Pen Argyl basketball team players on Internet message boards and adding negative commentary. Parents complained the videos and comments traumatized their children. Egan said the hiring of Blount, an African-American, had “absolutely nothing to do with race.” “I would have considered Al the last time we had an opening, the time before that, any time he would have applied,” Egan said. Egan said he likes the approach of Blount, who “will give the kids a lot of freedom that the kids will respond well to. He's very player-oriented.” He said he believed Blount has learned from any mistakes he might have made in previous stints. “I heard a lot about him, but you also try to get to know someone and form your own opinions,” Egan said. “We talked about his previous stints and he said he learned from those other jobs and he’s a better coach for it.” “I've always championed kids, I've always fought for kids,” Blount said. “What I have learned is that the best way to fight for kids is to give them another plan. “I've also learned that it's best to go to a place where your talents can be celebrated. Go to a place where you're wanted rather than a place to where you think you want to go. Things have a better chance of working out that way.”