UCA boys buy in to new approach

ASHEBORO —  Roger Mabe is about far more than winning basketball games. The first year head boys coach at Uwharrie Charter Academy has brought with him a new style, a new philosophy and certainly more discipline and accountability.

It’s the way he’s always coached. From summer clinics and summer leagues to stints with the South Asheboro and Uwharrie Charter Middle School programs, in leading the Asheboro High School boys jayvee program, to leading the High Point Christian junior varsity team and assisting with that varsity program and now as the head varsity coach for the Eagles. 

It may not be new — Asheboro High boys basketball coach Brian Nance, among others, has been implementing a similar approach for decades — but it’s certainly new at Uwharrie Charter Academy and it seems to be working. 

In Mabe’s first year at the varsity helm, the Eagles entered the Piedmont Athletic Conference Tournament this week with a 17-8 record, quite an improvement from last year’s 10-15 mark.

The record could have even been more impressive, but a couple of late-season injuries has left the Eagles with just seven players dressed for varsity contests.

“It’s been great,” Mabe said. “This is the most fun I ever had coaching basketball. It’s been a fantastic season for us.”

It took some time for the players to adapt to Mabe’s coaching philosophy. A philosophy that includes early-morning workouts, playbooks chock-full of sets, schemes and formations, but even more important spending quality time outside the gymnasium. That is the key to building trust.That is the key to begin building a program.

“Kids don’t care how much you know until you show them how much you care,” Mabe said. “My approach has always been to get to know my kids. I want them to be great men, great fathers and great husbands. All those things I learned from basketball. How to handle adversity. When I went through tough times, basketball taught me every single life lesson. Not to quit, stay with it, to persevere.”

And to emphasize that, Mabe and his team have gathered together off the court on many, many occasions.

After one Friday night game, he told his team to meet him for breakfast at 8 a.m., and they needed to be there. It turned into a great team-bonding experience. This year, he had his team over to his house to watch the Duke-Carolina basketball game with a full menu awaiting the players. They have traveled to college basketball games as a team and helped in the community as well.  

“For me, I have learned it helps camaraderie come faster,”  Mabe said. “We went to Thanksgiving dinner at Pinewood Country Club. Some of the guys have never been out there. Those things there help you get better. It’s not just the Xs and the Os and the shooting and practices. It’s something I always did. I truly enjoy the time I spend with them outside of basketball.”

Mabe said he learned the importance of getting to know his players on an individual basis from Randy Strawser, his coach while he played basketball at Mount Olive from 1987-89.  

“He made sure every single month we were at his place eating dinner,” Mabe said. “He used to tell us all the time, I want to talk to you outside of basketball, I want to talk to you outside of sports and get to know you. My dad has always said if you really want to get to know someone, you have to eat with them and sit down at the table. Those two have had such an influence on me.”

Mabe, who has coached in summer leagues and helped at clinics for years, first took over the South Asheboro Middle School program, moved to Uwharrie Charter Academy middle school, joined the Asheboro HIgh School jayvee program before heading to High Point Christian for two years, leading the jayvee program and helping on varsity. He said he learned quite a bit about preparing and planning from HPC coach Joseph Cooper.

He coaches his son, Jaxon, who is with him as a junior at UCA. That, perhaps, is his biggest thrill. 

He also brought with him to UCA a playbook filled with hundreds of plays and sets for zone defense, man defense, multiple types of offense, out-of-bounds plays and used basketball terminology the players had never heard before.

Needless to say, it was a shock for the players at the beginning.

“There was some kickback, some of us looked at him like he’s crazy,” said senior inside power Aaron Smith, who has continued a stellar high school career under Mabe. “He gave us tons of man and zone sets and formations and out-of-bounds plays. It was definitely new, getting up at 7 a.m  and going to practice, going to the coach’s house for the Duke-North Carolina game, going out to eat — team excursions. 

“I am big on team bonding. Whenever your team is together in a non-pressure situation, it relieves stress and the pressure. The first couple of weeks we were all with him, but now the whole team goes and gets food with or without him. He’s changed the culture and the mindset. We would never be where we are today if he did not believe in us. He treats every player with the same amount of respect.”

Senior Braeden Lamb agreed.

“It was a lot to learn at first, it was overwhelming,” Lamb said. “But you practice it and it’s easy to pick up. I could feel our culture changing. We are heading in the right direction. Our confidence is at an all-time high and we are ready to compete.”

The Eagles are the only team to have knocked off powerful Randleman this season. UCA earned a 62-57 win on Jan. 7. 

“For a coach to look at you and not say, ‘Oh, I hope we can win half our games,’ but to say ‘we are going to win a conference championship and a state championship,’ that means something,” Smith said. “Going into the Randleman game, Coach didn’t say, ‘Let’s go get a moral victory.’ He came in Monday and the first thing he said is ‘who is ready to beat some Tigers?’ What is happening is he is setting the precedent for the future here at UCA.”

Mabe, a financial advisor for the past 28 years, says every athletic director he has worked under has given him the opportunity to excel.

“I remember coaching at summer camps and at a JUCO camp one year and those players were in need of things, shoes, socks, and I couldn’t help back then, I didn’t have the means,” said Mabe, who helped construct a new locker room at UCA, which features a television, gaming system and other amenities. “My business has been blessed and it’s important I show these kids how much I care. This has been a blessing to me.”

And for the UCA players and community.