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Sunday, March 03, 2002

A quarter-century ago, he chucked this job. He coached one basketball season at proud Uniontown High School, then he was done. "A lot of politics," Dave Shuck recalled of 1977-78. "There were some things going on that I didn't like. So I just bailed."

His Red Raiders went 18-3 and nowhere, having lost the section title and its subsequent WPIAL playoff berth. Uniontown yowled. Uniontown wailed.

The big, old, red-faced coach, the one who assisted Abe Everhart during so many glorious winters in the highlands, came back to this job 13 years later ... only to hear more yowling, more wailing. His team lost the WPIAL Class AAAA final last March. His team lost the PIAA Class AAAA final the March before that. You never heard so many awful words, including some that rhyme with Shuck, until you lose a couple of back-to-back biggies. Although the worst was probably loser.

That made it all the more gratifying, all the more rewarding, when someone yesterday afternoon at Palumbo Center handed the WPIAL Class AAAA championship trophy to the big, old, red-faced winning coach. He raised the prize aloft in his meaty right paw. He allowed his jowls to screw into a smile. Uniontown cheered.

Revenge? Retribution? Nah.

Just a nice retirement gift.

Yep, he's about to bail again. For good.

"They're going out," Shuck said of his three leading seniors, his eight total seniors, who were 60-57 winners yesterday against New Castle. "So am I. We wanted to go out with the WPIAL championship. Thank goodness we got it.

"Last year, I was sick for two weeks after we lost here [to Chartiers Valley]. I certainly thought that we would win, and we didn't. I began to think I couldn't win anything."

He and the Red Raiders (24-1) almost didn't win yesterday. They jockeyed back and forth with heretofore-undefeated New Castle, falling behind by seven points midway through the second quarter, surging ahead by 14 points midway through the third quarter.

"I figured they were going to make a run," Shuck said. "I told [that] to the kids in a timeout. 'They're going to expend a lot of energy in this run here. They're not going to come back and take a lead on us.' But they did."

It wasn't until two Chris Jacobs free throws with 1:13 remaining that Uniontown regained the lead. It wasn't until two cool free throws by Terrance Vaughns with 5.1 seconds remaining that Uniontown was assured of at least overtime. It wasn't until Dierre Jenkins slapped the ball off the thigh of desperately driving New Castle guard Mark DeMonaco that Uniontown was assured of its first WPIAL trophy since 1981.

Even in the celebrating end, Shuck was still coaching, still unbending on the sideline. Dierre, put your shirt back on. The 6-foot-7 coach, a burly fellow who played alongside Rod Thorn and Gale Catlett in the early 1960s at West Virginia, wiped his meaty left paw across his upper lip. He also was still sweating this one.

The contradiction in coaches was laughable. On the other side of the court stood New Castle's John Sarandrea, who wore a natty green suit and black mock turtleneck compared to Shuck's sweat-stained maroon blazer, matching tie and white shirt. Sarandrea is a lightning rod, a school principal, a former New York City firefighter; Shuck taught physical education for 36 years before retiring quietly to his Dunbar farm last summer. Sarandrea is a former New York state-championship winner and USA Today Coach of the Year who molded New Castle teams out of local kids plus transfers anywhere from Texas to Butler and turned them into WPIAL champions four of his 10 years; Shuck, in his 12th year spread over the past 25, was looking for his first championship at the school that previously won seven WPIAL championships and four state titles.

Now Shuck has something of his own.

Something over 1977-78. "I like to coach. But I like to do it my way. I don't like a lot of people on my back. I try to have a clean program."

Something over his final 11 seasons and 222-77 overall record as a lovely parting gift. "No, there wasn't any hesitation in coming back this season. I couldn't walk away from these kids. Not that I was the best coach for them, but it would have been very difficult for these kids to adapt to a new coach, a new system."

Vaughns, Jacobs and Jenkins have spent years together on basketball courts, months together on Grant Park's playground, hours together with the big, old, red-faced coach -- listening to the middle-aged man yell at their mistakes, having him calm their jitters, enduring his don't-beat-yourselves mantra. Yesterday they seemed as happy for him as for themselves.

"Everybody talked about how Uniontown has talent and he's not a good coach," Vaughns said. "But he's the perfect coach for us. If we didn't have him, I don't think we'd even be here."

Shuck heard the talk, too. In the highlands, it's hard not to hear. He showed great reserve yesterday in refusing to tell anyone to stick this trophy in their ear.

"I was kind of getting a reputation of a guy who could get to the big ones, but not win the big ones. I mean, this is ... this is great.

"Everybody loves a winner."

In addition to The Big Picture, Chuck Finder writes a general-sports column exclusive to the http://www.post-gazette.com/ every Tuesday. He can be reached at cfinder@post-gazette.com