Good Sports: Chris Hahn believes in run-and-gun basketball at Delta

Delta High School boy's basketball coach Chris Hahn watches his team compete Saturday against Dora in the Class 1 Quarterfinals at Van Buren High School.

Dustin Ward ~ Delta Dunklin Democrat

Good Sports is a column appearing weekly in the Southeast Missourian and Semoball.com. The purpose is to get to know the people who impact the sporting life of our region in a more complete way. Responses have been edited for clarity and brevity.

Today: Chris Hahn, 30, head coach, Delta Bobcats boys basketball. Hahn, one of the youngest men currently leading a high school squad in southeast Missouri, led Delta – in his inaugural season with the team – to a 25-6 record and a championship in Class 1, District 2. The Bobcats fell in Class 1 quarterfinal action to Dora Saturday in Van Buren, Missouri, 106-70.

Given your team’s fast break style, the guess here is that you don’t like the Norman Dale-inspired “four passes before you shoot” manner of play popularized in the 1985 movie “Hoosiers.”

I tried to slow down and coach “normal” basketball when I started out, but I didn’t enjoy it.

Why not?

I’m a devotee of Paul Westhead, who coached an up-tempo transition offense at Loyola Marymount. Also, I grew up watching Mike D’Antoni’s run-and-gun offense with the Phoenix Suns. When you are determined to play slow, in my opinion, you are too focused on not making mistakes. You’re too fixated on perfect execution. That’s what “Hoosiers” was about, really. No, I prefer playing hard all the time. I want to take it to ‘em. It’s a weird style and some folks think it’s abnormal. Dick Vitale calls the run-and-gun “roller derby.” Well, it’s good to be unique.

Isn’t playing hard and fast constantly risky?

That’s why we substitute. I play pretty much every kid I have while some other teams stay with their starting five all the way. When you continually press and run up and down the floor, you’ve got to get your best players off the floor for a few minutes to keep ‘em fresh. Also, I think if a player works hard in practice, he should play. Everybody has a role in the offense.

You say you follow the Grinnell College system. It seems to me I read that at Grinnell, a sophomore, one player, scored 138 points in a single game in November 2012.

It’s a different way to play the game, to be sure. It’s a an offense based on forced turnovers, a high percentage of offensive rebounds, winning the shot differential and out of the total shots your team takes, at least half should be three-pointers. In this offense, you have to substitute a lot, you stay with full-court pressure, and you run and run and run.

If the goal is scoring lots of points, there’s no question you are succeeding. In just this past season, you scored 100 or more points no fewer than 15 times. You beat Cooter to win your sectional game, 120-82, on March 3. How fast did your players at Delta buy-in to your philosophy?

Well, they didn’t at first. But after the (Southeast Missourian) Christmas Tournament, we beat Oran by three points and I think the boys said to themselves, “Hey, maybe this can work.”

If you had a Chris Hahn philosophy, what might it be?

Hard to boil it down but if I had to put it in a phrase, it might be, “Let it fly.” Also, keep it fun, fast and aggressive. Keep it as simple as possible. Go-go-go for 32 minutes, press, keep the tempo up.

It seems, to a basketball observer, that you don’t play defense.

Yes, I get that a lot and frankly, I used to get aggravated when I’d hear it, but now I just laugh in my head. It’s true that you’ll give up points the way we play but don’t miss this – we average close to 20 steals a game. That’s defense.

How did you get the job at Delta?

I’ve got to credit Coach (David) Heeb, who is also the Delta superintendent. Our girls team at Delta, coached by Coach Heeb, also won a district championship this year. Coach believes in fast play too. He’s in my corner and I owe a lot to him.

What’s your personal story?

At right, Chris Hahn (50) plays for Campbell High School in a game in 2007. Staff photo

I grew up in Campbell, Missouri. My dad, Bruce Hahn, a 1978 Cape Central graduate, played for the Tigers. I’m 6-foot-5 and played the run-and-gun at Maryville University. I spent two years in the Perryville Schools after graduation, coaching freshmen basketball plus assisting the varsity and JV teams. Then I went to Holcomb to coach and resigned after five years. Those kids worked their butts off there and I’m proud of their performance but we didn’t always have the most talent at Holcomb. I applied in Delta a year ago. Coach Heeb understood my vision and here we are.

You’ve had remarkable success right out of the gate at Delta.

There’s a lot of talent here. I got lucky. I walked into a situation where the kids (already) knew how to play.

Do any of your current players have potential to go to the next level?

Time will tell, of course, but right now I’d say Eric Berry is a phenomenal point guard, one of the best in the area. Isaiah Thomas was our high scorer in the sectional and plays almost the whole game. Isaiah is also an awesome cross-country and track guy.

I see a fair number of high school basketball coaches who don’t seem happy even when they win.

It’s hard (for a coach) to enjoy a win because we’re always looking ahead. It’s hard to enjoy the moment. I remember telling the team, “We have to fix this,” and one player responded, “But we won by 40, Coach!”

You have a phrase about fatigue.

Yes, I want to “accumulate fatigue” in the other team. Running and gunning can build tiredness in your opponent. If they’re worn down, you can take ‘em in the all-important fourth quarter.

Do you have a coaching tree?

I’d point to former assistants – Corbin Clark, who’s at Senath-Hornersville. Also Marty Young and Jake Nelson. A father figure for me is Steve Fowler at Campbell. And I’d put Coach Heeb in there as well.

How important are your practices?

Any control you may have in an actual game comes from what you did that week in practice. We shoot 3-pointers in practice a lot. I want the team shooting 60 before school starts and then 100 3s at the start of each practice. Repetition – doing it over and over again – is necessary if you hope to convert 3s in a game situation.

How is coaching different than your playing days?

There are generally low numbers in terms of participation because kids have so many things to do now. Kids want to be entertained. For me, it means keeping up with what’s going on in society, in their lives.

You are not married. Is there someone special in your life?

My girlfriend, Alex Glover, coaches volleyball at Senath-Hornersville and her team made it to the Class 2 District 1 final.

Someone suggested online that your players have “great mullets.”

(Laughs) Yes, we have the most interesting hairstyles in the state here (in Delta).