Friday won’t be the first time that Mitchell Drey will be on the sideline for a basketball contest that involves Hillcrest Academy girls players, but it will be the first time he’ll do so with the moniker “head coach”.
Drey was hired to take the head coaching duties a season ago for the Ravens, but COVID-19 and a lack of numbers saw the season dissolve before it began and prompted Hillcrest to share a program with Mid-Prairie for the 2020-21 year. A season that saw Drey serve as a member of the Mid-Prairie girls basketball staff, and Hillcrest junior Esther Hughes contribute on the floor for the Golden Hawks.
He is a Nebraska native, playing the full spectrum of sports at the high school level for class B (the equivilent of 4A in Iowa), Gretna High School, before settling on basketball as his passion. Following an all-state high school career after gradution in 2013, he attended Nebraska Wesleyan for one season before suffering a spine and back injury and then finishing his playing career with the Iowa Wesleyan University Tigers in Mount Pleasant, where his dad had attended. He also began his coaching career at IWU, serving as a Graduate Assistant for two seasons.
This year, ready to guide his own program, Drey talked about why Hillcrest was a good fit, the experience he gained last year, what the team has been working on to get ready for their opener on Friday and what has him most excited about the upcoming season. “The reason I love Hillcrest is it’s a small community. Everyone helps each other. I was a member of the volleyball staff. We have alumni and the community invested in our school and programs. They come back to games, they have an excitement about what we are doing. Before last year, I had been an assistant coach, I had been around basketball a long time but I had never been the head coach. Being on staff with Danny (Hershberger) he was a great example for me and allowed me to ease my way in and get my feet wet so it was great having that year before all of the responsibilities of my own program fall to me. Early this season we have been working a lot to gain experience. Not having a season last year, even the juniors and some of the upperclassmen don’t have a lot of experience you might normally draw on. We’re working on the offense, developing team chemistry. We have taken some great leaps during these first few weeks and it’s been awesome to see. In our first game I want to see effort, and I know I’m going to see it because we’ve been bringing it in practice and we have a couple of more days to keep building on it. Knowing the offense and defense, knowing where to be and when to be there. Seeing the court, understanding each other. I’m looking for that small stuff because I know the big stuff is going to be there, the effort the excitement of having a team. I see it in their eyes every day.”
The Ravens take the floor for the first time on the new season Friday when they host Tri-County on Dwight Gingerich Court. You can hear all of the action live on AM 1380, FM 102.5 and KCIIradio.com, beginning with the Washington HyVee Pregame Show at 5:30 and tip off at 6p.m. You can hear a full interview with Drey on this week’s KCII PM Sports Page tonight at 6 and 10p.m. and Thursday afternoon at 1p.m.