Bob Crook Alumni Association: Former Braintree players revel in coach's milestone win

As with most great coaches, the numbers don't tell the whole story. But some numbers do tell part of the story.

In this, his 34th season prowling the sidelines as the Braintree High boys basketball coach, Bob Crook recently recorded his 400th career win.

How's that for longevity?

"It's a big number and he's a great guy," former player Brendan Curry raved. "I don't know how many guys have done it, but it's a pretty big accomplishment, if you ask me."

On a normal day, billions of Twitter users can't agree that the sky is up. But Crook's milestone victory did seem to unite a small corner of social media as tributes came pouring in from everywhere – fellow coaches, school administrators, and, especially, Crook's former players.

"He just represented what Braintree basketball was – show up every single day, work hard every single day, do the right thing every single day. That's what I remember of him," recalled well-wisher Brian Ellis, a former two-time Bay State Conference All-Star under Crook who is now a middle-school teacher in San Francisco. "And when you're on the court you're giving 100 percent effort. It's not even a thought to give less than 100 percent effort."

Brendan Curry's older brother, Jared, Braintree High's all-time leading scorer with 1,096 career points, now works in the insurance business in Charleston, South Carolina. He had hoped to be there in person to congratulate his former coach, but life got in the way,

More:HIGH SCHOOL ROUNDUP: Braintree boys basketball coach Bob Crook picks up win No. 400

"I had multiple people texting me" when he got the win, Jared Curry said. "I wanted to be there at the game. I was going to fly up to be there because I missed his 300th. I just couldn't with my kids' schedule. This type of thing probably annoys him, that people are talking about this (milestone). He's selfless in everything he does. ... He's more interested in the kids that fight and work hard for him than he is in state championships or anything like that."

'You'd better be prepared when you play Braintree'

Crook himself was almost apologetic about the milestone. A four-game losing streak that stretched from Jan. 3-20 had left him stuck on 399 wins before the Wamps finally broke through to beat Durfee, 58-48, on Jan. 23.

"With the team I have this year, we're struggling to win games, so it's more about just getting the game," Crook, 62, said of the win. "But I know there were some people who were connected to me or the program for a long time who had come to the last few games (waiting for me to get the milestone). We had lost four in a row. I felt bad that they (had to wait). They probably knew more about (the 400th win) than the kids did."

"I did my best (to milk the suspense)," he added with a laugh.

More:OT buzzer-beater and more: Vote for the High School Boys Basketball Player of the Week

At 5-9 heading into Friday's game against Needham, this might not be a vintage Braintree team. But the defining trait of Crook's program over the years is that it matters more how you play the 32 (or more) minutes than what the scoreboard says at the final whistle.

"That's one of the trademarks of a Bob Crook team," longtime assistant coach Jeff Timberlake said. "Yeah, we might not be the best team in the state, but we're gonna give you a game. Like (Newton North coach) Paul Conley said the other day, 'You'd better be prepared when you play Braintree.'"

If these Wamps are in a life-and-death struggle to make the playoffs down the stretch, then so be it. Crook sees value in all possible outcomes of seasons.

"I like the challenge that each season and each team presents," Crook said. "And we play in such a tough league. I think I like the challenge of working with kids. I'm lucky in Braintree that we get kids who will play hard all the time. Sometimes we have (some of) the better players in the league and sometimes we don't, but we generally have kids who will buy in and do what we say. And they believe that if they do what we say we'll be successful."

More:Once unsure if he would walk again, Sustache now starring for Archies boys basketball

And if Braintree does happen to squeeze in through the playoff door, history has shown that Crook's teams can cause a stir. In 2013, the Wamps upset No. 3 BC High as a No. 14 seed in the first round of the old Division 1 South tournament. And who can forget the 2016 matchup against mighty Catholic Memorial? Braintree was a No. 9 seed that time, and the top-seeded Knights, who went on to win the South crown, needed to drain a 3-pointer with 1.7 seconds left to escape with a 66-63 win in front of a packed (and very nervous) CM gym.

"The way he prepared us for that was crazy," said former star Nick Timberlake, Jeff's son. "CM plays in a very small gym and we knew how loud it was going to be. Every day at practice he had the music on full blast. And they played a very fast style so it would be a normal 5-on-5 game (at practice) but then for the CM scout (team) he'd have a kid standing at halfcourt with the basketball, so the minute we shot it we had to sprint back on defense and basically play 6-on-5 the whole time. He got us really prepared."

These days Timberlake is a 6-4 grad-student guard at Division I Towson University in Maryland. He's averaging 15.9 points and 3.9 rebounds per game for the Tigers, who are 16-7 and riding a six-game winning streak. Crook knows all about those college exploits because he enjoys keeping tabs on his former players.

"He's very important to me," Nick Timberlake said. "Like most of the alums will say, he always reaches out (to former players). He's always the first text I get, saying 'Merry Christmas' or 'Happy Birthday'. After a good game he always texts me. I just won (Colonial Athletic Association) Player of the Week the other week and he was the first one to congratulate me on that. He's pretty up to date with how I'm doing. He really cares about the alumni."

More:31-point nights and more: Vote for High School Girls Basketball Player of the Week

"One of the things we're proud of is how we stay connected to all of those guys," Crook acknowledged. "In fact, a lot of them will come back and practice when they can – on weekends or over Christmas break. I heard from dozens of them the other night (when I got my 400^th win), which was really cool."

Staying connected to the younger generations also helps with basketball. As Nick Timberlake noted, "He'll still pick my brain now when I come back (home from college), asking what stuff is new in college basketball so he can (adjust) the way (his team) plays, so he can move more toward how the game is today. He's been in basketball forever, and the game obviously has changed, and he wants to know what's new – new offensive terms, new offensive styles, stuff like that."

'I was the start of the dumbing down of coaching'

Crook probably was born to coach Braintree High. After all, his dad, Dave, coached the Wamps for eight seasons, retiring in 1981. Bob Crook grew up in Weymouth and played at the old Weymouth South High but spent countless hours in the Braintree gym with his dad. He played at the University of Maine and got hired to the Braintree staff as the JV coach straight out of college. Local legend Don Fredericks, who had been Dave Crook's assistant, moved into the top job and brought Bob on as his assistant.

"It was kind of interesting because my dad, he hated that," Crook said with a laugh. "He thought it should be the way it used to be – I should start in the middle schools or the junior highs and work my way up. He used to say that I was the start of the dumbing down of coaching."

Crook served as JV coach for seven seasons before taking over varsity in 1989-90. A lot has changed since then – on and off the court – but Crook remains.

"I learned a lot from my dad, I learned a lot from Don Fredericks. I learned a lot from my college coach (Skip Chappelle)," Crook said. "And I tried to use a little bit of all of that stuff. I think my dad's greatest asset as a coach was that he tried to make every person on the team feel important. He didn't have favorites. He tried to get every kid involved."

More:McNamara reaches milestone for Scituate, but Pembroke girls basketball rallies for win

Most of the alumni contacted for this story agree that Crook never played favorites. They also say he didn't mince words.

Jared Curry, who went on to play four years at Holy Cross and calls Crook "by far the best coach I've ever had – and I've had a lot of them," says Crook was always "brutally honest with me." Asked to recall his favorite memory of Crook, Ellis said with a chuckle, "I would say it was at a game where he reamed me out on the bench in front of everyone. I was a junior and I got a stupid technical foul and he sat me on the bench, just me, and just lit into me about how I was being selfish and not being a good teammate and how I needed to mature. And this was in a quiet gym so everyone could hear. And I needed that at the time. I don't think I got a technical foul after that."

'They're a really fun group to coach'

Life is good for Crook these days. Married to Lauren since 2004 he's got a basketball family – daughter Caroline is a senior guard/forward on the girls team, and son Cam is a sophomore small forward on the boys JV squad. He coaches golf in the fall and relishes his down time in the spring. "Best season to have off," he said with a laugh.

Despite the on-court struggles, he also enjoys coaching this Braintree team, which is captained by James Tellier, Matt Daly and Terry Elie, whom he describes as "terrific kids."

More:Braintree QB James Tellier already has his first win of 2022: This summer, he beat cancer

"I've said to a lot of people this year that what this team lacks in talent they make up for it because they lack ego, too," Crook said. "There's no one who thinks they're better than anyone else. They all play together and they all play hard. The games that we've been successful in, that has really shone through. They're really a fun group to coach."

He's got 400 wins in the bank. Anybody for 450? 500?

"You'd think he'd want to get out (of the profession by now)," Jeff Timberlake said, "but he's still striving and thriving and doing great."

What keeps him going? Maybe this story will explain it.

"I remember a long time ago I had to speak at a youth basketball-type banquet," Crook said. "When I got there I didn't know what I was supposed to speak about. The (organizer) told me to just talk about coaching. So I got up there and I said, 'My coach in church league was so-and-so, what he taught me was this.' I went through all the coaches that I had and what I learned from every coach. Some of them weren't great coaches and I learned what not to do.

"My point was that I couldn't remember my seventh-grade English teacher, but you always remember your coach and the impact that they had. I was trying to tell those people (in the audience that day) that sometimes they don't realize the impact that they have."

This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Ex-players celebrate Braintree boys basketball coach Crook's milestone