Rob Girard named varsity coach of GF boys’ basketball

By Gordon Woodworth, Chronicle News Editor

Rob Girard is the new varsity boys’ basketball coach at Glens Falls High School. He suucceeds Tony Hammel, who coached the team for 25 years and is retiring from teaching next June. Girard’s appointment was approved 9-0 by the Board of Education at its Aug. 10 meeting. He will earn $6,056 for the season. He works for the City’s Department of Public Works.

Girard, 47, said he coached the freshman boys at Glens Falls since 2004. He also coaches the modified football and junior varsity baseball teams.

His brother Mark coaches Glens Falls’s girls’ basketball team.

And one of Rob’s top returning players is Joseph Girard III, a leading area scorer last year as an eighth grader. Rob said Joseph’s father, Joe Jr., is his cousin.

“I’m pretty excited,” Rob said Tuesday. “We’ve got a good returning group. We’re still young, and Joseph is a big part of the returning group. We’ve also got three juniors who are going to be good in Tony Green, Dylan Balcom and Marcus Owens.”

Girard called Hammel “a legend. I just hope to continue what he did and get back to where we used to play in the Civic Center every year.” He said he is “going to pick Tony’s brain” on a regular basis.

Hammel said he believes his career record is 373-180. “We had one stretch of 10 years where we were 204-36,” he said.

He coached the Indians to two state championship games.

Michael Van Schaick led the 2002-03 team to the finals in the Civic Center, where they lost to Amityville. And Jimmer Fredette’s team lost to Peekskill in 2007.

Both players went on to successful collegiate careers — Van Schaick at Fairfield and Fredette at Brigham Young University, where he became the national College Player of the Year. He is in his fifth year in the NBA with the San Antonio Spurs.

Hammel said since he’ll retire in June, “I thought it would be a good time to give up coaching and let them get someone in that could follow this group of kids all the way through. It was a great run for me with a great amount of help from a lot of people and a lot of very good players.”

As for the new coach, Hammel said, “I’m very happy that Rob is being given the opportunity to run our basketball program.

“He has put in a tremendous amount of time running our feeder programs, coaching summer league teams, and running open gyms for me the past couple years.

“We have an excellent group of kids coming in the next few years that he has had a big influence on, and he deserves the chance to coach them.”

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