Haddock retires after 18 seasons with Paxton

By TRAVIS DOWNEY

Northwest Florida Daily News

315-4476 | travisd@nwfdailynews.com

Many years ago, perhaps more than even he would like to recount, Herb Haddock and his wife, Charlotte, would make the weekly trek from their home in Frisco City, Ala., where they each taught at the local high school, to their parents homes in Vernon, Fla.

It was during each one those three hour treks that Haddock's mind would drift as he passed through the small town of Paxton.

"We would pass through Paxton and I would look out there and see the school on the hill and I always thought that would be a great place to work," Haddock recalled. "All these years later I'm standing out in my yard on that same hill."

Now, after 18 years in charge of Paxton's girls basketball program and five-straight District 1-A titles, Haddock announced late this season that the 2008-09 season would be his last as the Bobcats' head coach.   "I really enjoyed what I was doing," Haddock said from his home in Paxton. "I'm just at the age where you have to retire sometime, so now is a good time."

His announcement sent shockwaves through the Bobcats' locker room, as players present and past alike have struggled to adjust to the mere thought of the Paxton girls' program under anyone's direction other than Haddock's.

Erin Walker, last season's Daily News small school Player of the Year, still laughs when recalling her first encounter with Haddock. After growing up and watching the coach's oftentimes fiery demeanor on the sideline, Walker recalled being introduced to a different side of Haddock as a wide-eyed sixth-grader.

"He told us a joke," Walker said, a smile stretching its way across her face. "He said, ‘How do you sell a deaf man a duck?' Then he asked us, ‘How?' It was the first day of school and he screamed as loud as he possibly could, ‘Do you want a duck?'

"Everybody sees the mean, aggressive basketball coach when you're in the stands," Walker added. "But he's one of our greatest friends."

Magen Smith, a sophomore last season who had played under Haddock since the seventh grade, said players are still unsure of what's next.

"It's going to be a totally different life without him up there because he's always been there," Smith said. "He's part of our daily routine, we check in with him in the morning, at lunch a lot of us will eat with him and after school we're always with him to play basketball.

"It's just weird."

For Haddock, reaching the final decision to step aside after so many years in the teaching and coaching ranks was seemed similarly outlandish at first. Having grown up wanting nothing more than to be a coach since his youth, the thought of spending his days anywhere but a high school gymnasium had Haddock feeling like a fish out of water.

"I knew when I was 15 or 16 (years old) that I wanted to be a coach so I started heading in that direction," Haddock said. "I never did anything else but prepare myself to be a coach.   "(I will miss) seeing those faces everyday that you're accustomed to seeing," Haddock added. "The friendships you develop. As old as I am, even with one of the girls who played for me this year, I coached her and I coached her mother and I went to school with her grand daddy, so it gets stretched out after a while."   Now, Haddock can simply stretch his legs.   A three-year-old grandson and another on the way are sure to keep the coach occupied. And should that not be enough, Haddock feels certain the years on the hardwood have left him with a rather lengthy to-do list.

"I have a wife of nearly 40 years that has always had plenty of instructions for me," Haddock joked. "I don't think she's going to quiet that down any."

As for finding the time to take in a few Paxton games next season, Haddock said he is leery of stepping on any toes. Instead, he will wait on Paxton to name its next coach. Then, when he feels the time is right, he'll check in to see if there is still room for him in the stands.

"If it's a bother for them for me to be up in the stands, I'll be somewhere else," Haddock said. "If it's not a bother, I'll be up there and I'll pull for them."