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Claggett celebrates 300th win with a trip down memory lane

Coach Erwin Claggett earned his 300th win as a coach this past month when the Jr. Bills beat McCluer on Dec. 14.

Claggett characterized his time as a coach at the U. High in one word: satisfied. 

“I think the basketball program has lived up to what the school is all about,” Claggett reflected. “It’s a lot of hard working kids that care about each other and have fun doing it, and find a unique way to have success in the face of obstacles and adversity.”

This year, Claggett boasts an impressive start. At 14-3, this is the best start he’s seen during his SLUH tenure. What makes this team special though, is not it’s individual stars. It’s what’s made all his teams special: their team spirit and toughness.

“We’ve been known as a very physical team with a defensive mindset,” Claggett said. “We pride ourselves on defending, making things hard for the other team, and playing unselfish basketball. I think that’s been a staple of our program.”

That style of coaching has brought success for Claggett since the very beginning. His first coaching job came at McCluer in 2003, where he went 168-80. 

When Claggett began at SLUH in 2013, he recognized that he was inheriting a program that, at the time, was not very well known. He takes pride in how much it has grown up to this point. 

“To see the development of the program … (into) a destination place for kids to come here is really cool,” Claggett noted. 

Claggett reminisced about his 2014-15 team, led by then-sophomore Brandon McKissic who is now in his fifth year of D1 basketball; McKissic spent his first four at UMKC and is now at Florida for his fifth. 

“That was a really fun team,” Claggett recalled. “(They were) not all that talented, but they were really tough, gritty, smart, and very competitive.” 

That year, Claggett’s team reached fourth in state. A year later, his team earned third. His SLUH teams have never been the most naturally athletic or the most talented team in the area, but Claggett recalled how they have all been able to find success within his system, a testament to his methods as a coach. 

 

 

 


 

 

 

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