Britton athletic director comfortable working with middle school
students
Morgan Hill – With 40 years of coaching under his belt, Jim Green has no plans of stopping anytime soon.
Athletic director, basketball and softball coach at Britton Middle School, Green also established the South County Basketball Academy in Morgan Hill to act as a feeder program for the area high schools, teaching skills and sportsmanship to young players.
Green has many great stories about the athletes and teams he has coached in his career. His love of sports and student-athletes is clear as soon as he opens his mouth.
A Bay Area native, Green grew up in San Carlos playing baseball and began his coaching career as a baseball coach when he was 16. In San Carlos, Green had the opportunity to coach a 9-year-old Barry Bonds, the San Francisco Giants’ superstar.
“I taught him all his media skills,” joked Green. “Barry was a tremendous athletes, aloof and coachable. He was the first athlete that I didn’t talk to, just coached. He was always wired that way, very private.”
Bonds wasn’t the only famous athlete Green had the pleasure of coaching, a young Mike Nolan played on the first basketball team that Green coached when the 49ners still trained in Redwood City. Over the years he coached many Giants’ and 49ners’ children
Wanting to become a teacher as well as a coach, Green relocated to the Morgan Hill area in August of 1977. He spent his first two years bouncing from school to school as a substitute.
In 1979, Green, who had come to Morgan Hill as a baseball coach, was hired by Martin Murphy, where he became the activities director, P.E. teacher and freshman basketball coach. He stayed at Martin Murphy until 1985 and brought the school five consecutive basketball titles.
In 1986, Green accepted a position at Live Oak High School, where he taught and coached until 1994. He was the last basketball coach to lead the Acorns to a Tri-County Athletic title in 1988.
“It was a magical night,” Green said of the championship game against North Salinas in Salinas. “We knew it was for the championship, so I went down a got 100 tickets for our supporters. All the fans followed us down to Salinas. It was like a scene out of Hoosiers.”
“The start of the game was delayed 20 minutes because the gym was oversold and the fire marshall said some people had to leave,” recalled Green. “It was so loud during the game that we had to go to the free throw line during timeouts to talk to our players.”
The Acorns went on to defeat North Salinas in overtime at the Vikings homecoming game for the league championship.
Since 1995, Green has worked and coached at Britton Middle School, where he is athletic director, basketball and softball coach and P.E. teacher.
“I learned how to coach in pop warner football and little league baseball, so I’m comfortable with 12-14-year-olds,” said Green. “I opt to say it’s challenging.”
As softball coach at Britton, Green has lead the Bobcats to six championships and second place in eight of the past nine years.
“Longevity contributes to success as a coach,” said Green, who is in his 40th year of coaching. “I knew my playing days would end and coaching was the best way to stay involved with sports.”
“The single best thing about coaching is probably the relationships you gain from a career of coaching,” added Green. “The community ties, running into former players and forging lifetime relationships. I’m pretty competitive as well.”
In 1999, Green started the South County Basketball Academy (SCBA) because he saw a need for a youth basketball program in the area.
“Every successful varsity sport at Live Oak can thank feeder programs,” explained Green. “I wanted to get a program that was fun, competitive and teaching the kids the fundamentals of basketball while preparing to become successful at the high school level. When I coached at Live Oak while other teams were teaching their players plays and strategies, we were teaching fundamentals of the game. We were behind.”
The SCBA took off immediately in Morgan Hill. In its first year the SCBA had 140 players. By the next year the program had grown to 300 players. Today, the SCBA offers three sessions (Winter, Spring and Summer) and accommodates 800 players.
According to Green the SCBA fits the Silicon Valley lifestyle because it is a Saturday-only league.
“I had to be convenient for the Morgan Hill athlete,” said Green. “It’s a two-hour block of time on Saturday’s. There’s practice and then the game. It’s been a very effective learning tool.”
Fairness is the name of the game in the SCBA. According to Green, they run a balanced program. If the talent level of the league is not fairly balanced, players are shifted to make teams more equal. Each player on a team gets a chance to play in every game as well.
“Out of 36 teams this past Winter session, each team won at least one game,” said Green. “Here you have to coach all of the players because they’re all going to play.”
The SCBA also donates money to both the Live Oak and Sobrato basketball programs, as well as provided paid jobs for high school players. The SCBA hires varsity players to be officials.
“Not a session goes by that people don’t tell me, ‘Your refs are wonderful’,” said Green. “It’s because they stop and explain a foul or play, so the kids can learn.”
Green routinely works 60 or more hours in a week, but says he has no plans of stopping.
“Before I leave Britton and the SCBA, I have to have something better to do,” explained Green.
When asked if it was hard to see his players move on and leave, Green said, “It is hard, but I never stop coaching. I see the kids on campus or see them playing at the high school level. Typically when the season’s over it’s hard to say goodbye.”
