Back to the beginning: Penn's Al Rhodes returns to Warsaw's Old Tiger Den for first time

SOUTH BEND — Inside his coaching office at Emory University, Josh Zimmerman keeps a copy of the poem "If" by Rudyard Kipling.

It stems from his high school playing days at Warsaw, where former Tigers head coach Al Rhodes taped a copy inside the home locker room at the old Tiger Den, now Lakeview Middle School, as a form of motivation for his players.

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That poem, and Rhodes, dictated a lot of success in that gym, which was built in 1960 and used until the 1990 season, including four sectional championships and a state title in 1984.

"He is one of the best basketball coaches in the country at any level," Zimmerman said of Rhodes. "I think coach Rhodes, to me, is Warsaw basketball and he helped instill this great pride in a program."

Rhodes, who has led his alma-mater Penn for the last 15 seasons, has coached against Warsaw since leaving the program in 2002 before making stops at Logansport and Fort Wayne Northrop. But Tuesday night's game against the Tigers at the old Tiger Den will be Rhodes' first stop back to his old stomping grounds.

"Back in its day it was a great gym in terms of atmosphere. Warsaw has always supported its basketball teams very well.

"For me it was like a crucible to becoming a coach."

Rhodes, who's been a high school coach for 42 seasons and elected into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame in 2010, got his coaching start at Warsaw in 1980 after spending four seasons as an assistant for Jim Miller.

During those 21 seasons, Rhodes won 405 games, many of which happened in the Old Tiger Den, which was the site of sectional and regional basketball games, as well as one of Rhodes' favorite memories, ending Marion's 40-game winning streak in 1986.

"It was a very tough place to play," Rhodes said. "It was always full and that was back in the day that if you wanted to get a sectional ticket you had to win a raffle because we had so many season ticket holders."

At its peak, Rhodes had built Warsaw into one of northern Indiana's premier programs. He said that started at the roots, developing his own system for not only the varsity team, but at each level of Warsaw basketball.

"I put that together there and we might have had the best basketball program that was ever established due to the job of the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth grade coaches," Rhodes said. "Everybody was on the same page and all they cared about was building varsity players. It was a tremendous experience to go through that."

For some of his former players, it was the behind the scene work that fueled Warsaw's strong teams under Rhodes.

"He was kind of before his time with the kind of stuff," said Scott Long, who was on the 1984 championship team. "Just the preparation with scouting, knowing exactly what he wanted execution wise, trying to get certain matchups that were advantageous. We all bought in and had some good success."

Each year that has always been Rhodes' biggest challenge: getting each player to buy in. When his past teams have, it usually led to long postseason runs.

"When you play for him, it is not easy because he holds you accountable," Zimmerman said. "The biggest thing I took away was not just his basketball coaching, but his teaching. He worked at getting better every day."

Penn (8-1, 1-0 NIC) is going through that process right now. The Kingsmen, ranked No. 3 in 4A, have all the pieces and the look of a state championship contender. They have a coach that has been there before, too.

So even though Tuesday's nostalgic moment may be special for Rhodes, he will coach in the Old Tiger Den with the same goal as he did decades ago: to win a ball game.

"The only idea," Rhodes said. "Is for us to go there and play a fine sectional opponent in Warsaw."

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: 'Coaching Crucible': Al Rhodes returns to arena where coaching career started