By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Robbie Sanders, who starred at Topeka High as a player and spent 13 seasons on the Trojans' coaching staff, had long dreamed about getting the opportunity to guide his own program at his alma mater.
That dream came true Thursday night when the USD 501 school board approved the 1996 High grad as the Trojans' new boys basketball coach.
"It's been a long time coming, but better late than never,'' Sanders told TopSports.news. "It just feels so good to be home. It's like everything has come full circle.''
Robbie Sanders (right) was approved as Topeka High's new boys basketball coach Thursday night after coaching the past six seasons on Ken Darting's staff at Shawnee Heights. [File photo/TSN]
The 47-year-old Sanders earned All-City and All-Class 6A recognition for Bill Bagshaw at Topeka High and played collegiately at Independence Community College and Coe College before embarking on a 19-year coaching career.
After coaching under Mike Henson and Pat Denney at Topeka High, Sanders has been a member of Ken Darting's Shawnee Heights' staff the past six seasons, including back-to-back berths in the Class 5A state tournament the past two seasons.
"I got the opportunity to play at Shawnee Heights (for Topeka High) one time and I got the opportunity to go back there and coach,'' Sanders said. "I've obviously coached at Topeka High before and to be able to step back into this role, it seems surreal. It's really special and I'm just honored and excited.''
Sanders had expressed interest in the Topeka High coaching vacancy twice earlier in his career, but said that everything has worked out for the best.
"The first time, to be totally honest, I had some more growing to do so I understood why they felt they needed to go in a different direction,'' Sanders said. "And the last time it just didn't work out for a lot of different reasons. One of the reasons was my son Jaren was just going into college and he was playing football.
"It just was a huge transition and a lot of responsibility to want to be there for him, but to try to take on all these new roles and everything, so the timing just wasn't right. Thank God that another chance came about and we were ablte to make it happen this time.''
Sanders said that he has learned a lot from coaching under Henson, Denney and Darting as he embarks on his first head coaching job.
"Obviously, coach Henson was my introduction to coaching and the biggest thing that stuck with me from coach Henson was just the everyday skill development,'' Sanders said. "He wanted 25 to 35 minutes every day of individual skill development, working on dribbling, passing and shooting, and that's something that I plan to implement here at the High now.
"Coach Denney is a mentor to me. He's somebody that I'm still really close with and I can run any idea across him and he's just an unbelievable resource, and coach Darting, he just changed the way I looked at everything. He made me understand that winning is attainable if we go about it the right way. If we build it brick by brick, if we start on the defensive end, if we hold these kids accountable, if we set high standards, anything is achievable.
"I've learned so much from all these guys and I would say that my philosophy and style is a combination of everything that I learned from everybody.''
Sanders is employed by the Family Service & Guidance Center of Topeka as a counselor at Robinson Middle School and Chase Middle School.
He has also been a skills instructor for Darting Basketball Academy since the launch of the organization.
"I've been there since the very first workout,'' Sanders said.
Sanders takes over as Topeka High head coach from Geo Lyons, whose coaching contract was not renewed after three seasons.
Sanders will meet with Topeka High's players Friday to lay out his vision for the program, which will be looking to improve on a 1-19 record this past season.
"We're going to start by trying to establish a defensive identity and talk about some things that are non-negotiable, such as effort, being on time, showing up every day ready to work and just having a businesslike approach,'' he said.
"We understand that this is a tough task ahead of us, but I'm excited and I'm ready and we're going to get to work. We're going to put the work in and I think the product that we put out there on the court next year will be something that people can be proud to watch.''
