CENTERVILLE, Ohio — It seems it can’t be an OHSAA basketball Final Four without the Centerville Elks, as the team is in its fourth straight trip to state semifinals, with hopes to win a second state championship.
But success like that doesn’t happen overnight, and a lot of that has to do with head coach Brook Cupps.
What You Need To Know
- Centerville is back in the state semi-finals for the fourth straight year
- The Elks won their lone state championship in 2021
- Coach Brook Cupps has been a large part of the team's success with his process-based coaching style
- Cupps even published his coaching philosophy and some of his story in a book and another coming out next week
In his 13th season with the Elks, Cupps has figured out a formula for success.
“Your job is to create an environment that they want to be a part of and that those expectations are the norm," Cupps said. "And so, but it’s always a choice by the kids, you can’t force it. You can’t make them do it.”
Cupps approaches his kids before each season to come up with their team motto and goals. This year’s is love the fight and celebrate us. A little different than what goals may look like for other teams in the state.
“We don’t talk anything about destination goals," he said. "We never talk about winning the league or winning the state title or anything like that. I mean if you’re playing basketball in Ohio, I don’t understand why you would be playing if you’re not trying to win a state championship.”
Cupps changed his philosophy of coaching from results-based to process-based, and has seen a lot of success. The change came when his now grown daughter was just 5 or 6.
“She was crying, and I get up and I knock a popcorn bowl out of her hand because I was frustrated because I wanted to watch film and she wanted me to change the movie," Cupps remembered. "I can go right back to where I was in that time, and I just remember what am I doing? This is not who I want to be as a dad, it’s not who I want to be as a coach.”
That changed everything for Cupps, and his players respect his coaching style.
“You need a coach like that, that’s hard on you and doesn’t let you make the same mistakes all the time and he just holds you accountable," Baboucarr Njie, a senior on the team, said. "That’s why I like him as a coach.”
Njie has seen this team go to states all four years of his high school career. He credits Coach Cupps for getting him and his teammates prepared each year.
“I’d really just say thank you," Njie said. "Having a coach that literally does everything for the team, wants the team to succeed and even you as an individual wants you to succeed in life, it’s a very big factor on why we ourselves and as a team are so successful in what we do.”
Cupps realized his coaching methods could be useful to others, so during the pandemic began writing his story and philosophies down, which eventually became his first book "Surrender the Outcome."
“I like to do hard stuff, and it was just a different kind of hard, trying to figure out how to publish, write a book, make it look like an actual book," Cupps said.
And if his week wasn’t busy enough, he’s releasing his newest book "The Score That Matters" written alongside Centerville graduate and podcaster Ryan Hawk.
“The primary message from the book is like your internal scoreboard has a little bit more impact on the way you live your life, the fulfillment you feel from it, your impact on other people," Cupps said.
Cupps hopes his message impacts just one person. But it’s surely impacting his players. And while winning a state championship would be nice, Cupps says he’s surrendered the outcome to the journey.
“I want our guys to trust the work that they’ve put in and trust each other," Cupps said. "Love the fight. Celebrate us, and we’re good.”