Lewis-Palmer's Bill Benton eclipses 200 wins on 10 year journey with Rangers, 30 years as a basketball coach
Feb. 10—Lewis-Palmer boys basketball coach Bill Benton shared a fist bump and a "good work" or other words of endearment to every one of his players as they exited the home locker room following the team's 66-44 win over rival Palmer Ridge on Tuesday.
He's been sharing words of encouragement, teaching and mentoring student athletes in basketball for 30 years. In his ten years as a head coach at Lewis-Palmer, he's coached more than 100 players, worked with 18 or 19 assistant coaches, met and worked with three School District 38 superintendents and has showcased a perennially dominant Lewis-Palmer basketball team to countless students, parents, fans, opponents and other members of the community.
The numbers all add up to 200 career wins at Lewis-Palmer for Benton, a milestone he met Feb. 3 in a 70-50 win over Cheyenne Mountain.
He's very humbled by the moment but desires a time, that's not midseason, to really reflect and celebrate the accomplishment.
"In the middle of the season it's hard to really give it its due because there's so many players, so many great assistant coaches, guys that have come through and gotten us to that number that I want to be to be able to stop and think about it and give them that due for it," he said.
Even opponents take note of what the long-time Rangers coach has done. Palmer Ridge coach Nick Mayer said it's a tough rivalry between the Bears and Rangers on the court, but it makes winning that much sweeter.
"It's been fun, it's tough, the years that we've beat them we savor those. But he's had some really good teams here for those 10 years. ... He's done a good job and he deserves all the credit for getting those wins," Mayer said.
Since taking over the team to begin the 2013-2014 season, Benton's Rangers have made four appearances in the state final, winning two of them, one of which came last year. The Rangers have won five league championships under Benton and the coach has an overall record of 201-51.
The road to 200 wins began when Benton started coaching at the age of 21. Over the years, he's been at Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington, an assistant coach to the revered Mike Leahy at Centaurus and spent three years as head coach at Hanover, a 1A school located just 40 minutes southeast of Colorado Springs, among other stops.
He got his start with Lewis-Palmer as an assistant under coach Russ McKinstry, who won the state title with the Rangers in 2012 and again in his final year in 2013.
Succeeding McKinstry was a big challenge said Mesa Ridge head coach Joel Babbitt, who coached as an assistant to Benton for five years. But Benton was ready for it.
Babbitt, whose Grizzlies are undefeated and one of the top-ranked teams in 5A basketball, said that Benton's attention to detail is something he tries to emulate as a head coach.
"I know people talk about you gotta pay attention to little things. We even talk about little things are details. You don't say little things because then it sounds unimportant," Babbitt said. "For Coach Benton, the word is details. So even a simple thing like paying attention to the word details is important."
From there on, it's about the process of playing basketball, Babbitt said. It's about the details of how a play is executed more so than whether the ball goes in the net or not.
To that end, Benton requires a championship mentality from his players at all times, in athletics and academics.
"You can't have a championship mindset on the court and then not have one in the classroom," Benton said. "There's no switch to that. You either handle things the right way in everything that you do or you don't and guys buy into it. They understand it's not coach speak."
And that's the best part of basketball and all sports for Benton, the parallels to life. It's about the fact that the values he teaches his players on the court, can be used in the classroom, for a job interview, wherever. The lessons stick with the players and some keep in touch well after the fact, because of the impact Benton has made.
It means the world to the tenured coach.
"One of the best things I love is that the alumni that come, and that are around and they'll show up at practice or they'll show up at games and just be a part of the family still," he said. "That's actually a huge piece for me is yes the 200 (wins), the banners all of that's very important. But that fact that I'm still apart of some of these young men's lives is even more important to me."
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