Far as I can tell, the best moment in Laraine Cook’s four-year run as the Pocatello girls basketball coach came in last season’s state tournament.
From an on-court perspective, it was also the ugliest.
In the semifinals of the 2012 Idaho High School Girls 4A State Tournament, Bishop Kelly rocked the Indians 51-24. The final score makes it seem closer than it really was.
The eventual state champions’ larcenous defense scored 27 points on 24 forced turnovers and held Poky to five made field goals the entire game.
I saw it in person. The Knights turned out as a terrible matchup for the upstart Indians who had stunned Burley 47-44 the night before in the opening round of the state tournament.
I write that Poky “stunned” Burley because the Bobcats had beaten the Indians twice earlier in the season to the tune of 50-37 and 42-23. Pocatello had just snuck into the state tournament despite season-ending injuries to two starters, and junior sharpshooter Paige Durrant had so much tape on her knee that she could have extended it throughout her body to complete an impressive mummy impersonation. Oh, and another starter, Allie Parker, had an injured thumb.
So a lopsided loss to a team that outscored its state competition 152-90 comes across as expected rather than a surprise.
But, man, 51-24, what a whitewash.
And that’s why I came away so impressed afterward. I walked up to Cook as she stood on the same floor where her squad suffered its worst loss of the season and missed a chance to play their hated city-rival Century for the title.
I shook her hand, felt a firm handshake and Cook looked me directly in the eye while I spit out some pathetic question asking a coach to encapsulate what went wrong in a 27-point loss (hint: just about everything).
She was honest, gave Bishop Kelly all the credit it deserved and dismissed any notion that her team couldn’t bounce back in its next game.
Her main point: “You can’t sit there and cry about a loss. It’s not the end of the world.”
So the team that limped into the district tournament and nearly beat Century in the district title game before staggering to Boise for state didn’t treat the loss like “the end of the world.” Less than 24 hours later, Paige Durrant scored 22 points, Carly Parker had 17 and Allie Parker added a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds, and the Indians knocked off Twin Falls for the third-place trophy.
That turnaround and Pocatello’s season as a whole shocked me. The multitude of injuries that ravaged the Indians meant they weren’t supposed to take third at state. They didn’t have any business there. At least that’s what I thought before they proved me wrong. Pocatello did belong amongst the state’s elite 4A teams.
Cook manipulated the situation around that loss to Bishop Kelly masterfully.
The Idaho State Journal’s sports staff nearly created a coach of the year award for girls basketball just so we could hand out the first one to Cook.
And I used to think that was Cook’s best moment as head coach at Pocatello High School.
I learned how wrong that thought was after School District 25 fired Cook for a photograph she posted on Facebook.
Since then, mostly through social media, dozens have come out in defense of Cook saying her role in Pocatello girls basketball extended far beyond her duties as a coach.
They say Cook engaged with players, instilling an inner confidence in their games on the basketball court and their lives off of it.
Cook knows a loss on the floor isn’t the end of the world, but the effects a coach can have on a player are immense. I can’t oversell the idea that a coach in any sport can — and do — change lives, for better or worse. In Cook’s case, it sounds like the former.
From a win-loss perspective, Cook produced, but what she was doing away from the court is even more important — and impressive.
Those days are done, at least at Pocatello High School. The School District has made its decision. When one returning player heard, she started to cry. And she cried. Her entire chest turned bright red as the shock set in.
I feel terrible for her and everyone else who played for Cook. The Indians lost one starter from the team that beat Twin Falls, and with a nucleus surrounding Carly Parker, Brooke Pierce, Kealee Hewatt and Durrant, Pocatello is poised for a great season. Or I thought they were. Cook’s absence changes that.
Look, I don’t know if the school board has made a mistake firing Cook. I haven’t seen the photo or spoken with Cook. I don’t feel like I’m in a position to form a strong opinion.
But she’s gone. I’m just here to make a plea to the community. The Pocatello Indians have lost a good coach. They need another one, fast. If you haven’t already, put the word out and let’s help Poky find the best candidate possible. The girls deserve it.
The ending to Pocatello versus Bishop Kelly was ugly. But the final note to that season could not have turned out brighter with the way Poky gathered itself and won a third-place trophy the next day.
Here’s hoping the ending to the latest Pocatello basketball debacle has a similar type of finish.
For background on Laraine Cook and the situation at Pocatello High School, please click here, here and here.
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