Frye reflects on successful year and potential playoff berth

The Lady Indians padded a three game winning streak on the hardwood last Thursday with a convincing 42-29 win over Woodbridge. A week-long break before their next game gave them all the time and preparation they need to close out their season the way they want to. With two regular season games on the horizon, the 11-9 Lady Indians still have a fighting chance to make it to the state tournament this year – a feat that first-year head coach John Frye hadn’t anticipated at the season’s start.

“Practices are big now,” he said on Wednesday, during preparation for Friday night’s game at Laurel. “By the end of the season, how you play becomes game-specific. This will be a big conference game, but by now we’re familiar with what they’ll hit us with. We’re sharpening up on some of the same things – not getting sloppy and playing persistent – but we’ve had a nice long weekend off, and we’ve come back with a good attitude.”

Frye said he is hoping his Indian River team can close out their schedule strong and take care of business, as they attempt to overcome their previous loss to Laurel from early January.

“It would be a nice feather in our cap,” he added.

The Lady Bulldogs have only dropped a single game within the conference this year, and will bring a testing offense on their senior night this Friday.

But Frye isn’t overly concerned with these last two games of the year. He’s both appreciative and grateful for what he’s been able to bring to the Indian River program in the past four months. After all, he had gone years doubting he’d ever coach basketball again. Back in Oxford, Pa., Frye coached youth, middle-school and high-school teams.

“I was up there for some time,” he said. “Coming down here was a big commitment, and to make it, I knew I really needed to put the effort into it.”

He stepped away from an Oxford program in a good groove and moved down to Ocean View with his family in 2002.

“I hadn’t coached for six or seven years,” he said, “and to be honest, I never though I’d be coaching again.”

Frye and his family – his father Jack, especially – had a great appreciation for the coastline, from boating to fishing, and the relocation to the Delaware shore was the perfect solution. But the father-and-son duo shared another bond: their appreciation for basketball. And when the opportunity presented itself again, the two could not pass it up.

“I stopped by and watched a game a few years back,” said John Frye, “and I just started feeling it again. I wasn’t really itching to get back into it, but it was always at the back of my mind.”

Since getting back to the sidelines of the basketball court, John Frye and his father have been able to turn around a program that had seen some less-than-successful seasons.

“That’s the nice thing about it all,” he said. “Some of these girls have seen a rough road, and it makes it that much more rewarding. I want nothing more than to give these girls the best possible position to take their lives and give them everything I have.

“After all, it’s all about the kids,” he emphasized. “You don’t win games without talent, but you also have to have athletes willing to make a commitment, and that’s exactly what we have here. The entire team has been wonderful and has done everything we asked them to do. They’ve made that transition easier for me.”

He attributed the success of the season not only to the players but to a very supportive administration and parents.

With a handful of senior starters, Frye said he realizes there will be rebuilding to do after this year, but he’s proud of all that has been accomplished so far.

“If someone told us back in November that we’d have a shot at the state tournament,” he said, “we’d never have thought that. These girls really want to be coached.”

Indian River started their pre-season out with a disappointing loss to James M. Bennett, only three days prior to their opener at Milford.

“That scrimmage against Bennett didn’t go well,” Frye said. “There were bad attitudes and habits, and that evening following the game, I didn’t know if we’d have a team tomorrow. But we came back out to practice, and I told the girls, ‘That’s not what we’re going to be about.’ We moved forward from there and, ever since, they’ve been a wonderful group.”

While it’s been a lengthy, exhausting road, the girls are not giving up.

“It’s a long season,” Frye acknowledged, “and the team is ready for it to be done, but they’re still giving their all. I get a lot of respect from these girls, and it’s been an honor to coach them. It’s really been great. There’s never a time I dread coming here.”

The Lady Indians will square off at Laurel this Friday, Feb. 20, and round out their season with senior night, hosting Delmar on Tuesday, Feb. 24. Both games are set for 7:15 p.m.

“We’re winding it down,” Frye said. “We’ve met most of our goals this year, and the biggest thing was that we wanted people to know when we walk out there, we come to play. And since the past years, this program has really gained respect, and that’s important. Whatever happens, we’ve had a great season, and I have no complaints.”