A couple of years ago, Denny Renier was – again – reluctant to slide down one spot on the Bishop Luers bench and lead the successful girls basketball program.
Renier had been an assistant for more than two decades and had turned the top spot down before. But this time when Luers athletic director Matt Lindsay asked Renier to take over for Greg Friend, who had stepped aside after two years, Renier had just one requirement – take the pressure off the players during the summer.
“I could have had the job before this,” Renier said Saturday after the Knights’ sixth state championship at Memorial Coliseum. “I just don’t believe in working these kids to death in the summer. So I never took it.
“When we changed coaches and Matt asked if I was interested, I said, ‘Yeah, with one condition.’ I said, ‘Here’s my schedule, and here’s what I am going to do if I take it, and if people think it is because I don’t want to work, that’s crazy. I want these kids to enjoy their summer.’ And he (Lindsay is also the school’s football coach) said, ‘We don’t do that much in the summer,’ and look how many state championships he has won (nine).”
Some of the time elevating the career assistant coach doesn’t work out too well. But in this case, it did. Renier was a freshman coach for a season and then spent 21 years as the junior varsity coach before making the successful transition to the top spot.
Renier’s philosophy has worked in guiding the program to two trips to the state title game, including Saturday’s 59-46 win over Brownstown Central and a 70-65 overtime loss to Austin.
“My (assistant) coaches really encouraged me to take it, which really helped,” said Renier, who is 42-10 in two seasons. “It was pretty easy at that point, but I wanted it to be known that this is the way I feel it should be run. There’s such a difference when you are the assistant coach and the head coach. There are a lot of rewards to it, and I will say pressure to it.”
Bishop Luers’ success over the past dozen years has come under four head coaches in Gary Andrews (3 state titles), Teri Rosinski (2 state titles), Friend and now Renier. Luers’ state championships have come in 1999, 2000, ’01, ’02, ’06 and ’11, with runner-up finishes in 2004 and ’10.
The lastest title came with the help of two 2A record-setting performances with Miracle Woods’ 14 rebounds and Brierra Young’s seven steals. And who knows what the future holds with the graduation of only three players in starters Young and Hilary Watts and reserve Anna McNamara.
“We have been very fortunate that we have had some great players,” said Renier, who has been a part of every state finals for Luers. “It is a credit to our kids, and (AAU programs) really is our secret. Going back to the first (state title), there’s a lot of people in this (interview) room that are responsible for that, much more than me. That’s where it starts and where it ends. Then we get them, and they carry us to state championships.”
