Photo: Eric Bloch-Hansen
By Robb Fenton
This past weekend was the first that the Lakeland Rustlers men’s basketball team didn’t have former head coach, Tom Groat on the bench.
The news came as a surprise to the Rustlers athletic department, but they have moved on in order to finish the first semester and the rest of the season.
“On Nov. 16, we received notification from coach Groat that it was his intention to resign. We accepted his resignation, Tom cited some personal reasons, which will remain with him, so we have moved on,” athletic supervisor, Aaron Rawlake said. “We have installed Eric Bloch-Hansen as the interim head coach for the remainder of the 09-10 season and Kevin Huber will stay on to assist coach Bloch-Hansen.”
While disappointed Groat stepped down, Rawlake noted everything he did for the program and is grateful for the time and effort he put into recruiting, developing and coaching the athletes who hit the court at Lakeland College.
“We thank Coach Groat, he put a lot of time into this program over the last four years as an assistant and as a head coach the last two years. He did a great job and we wish him well in his future endeavours,” Rawlake said. “It’s disappointing, but Tom is a man of good character and he’s got a lot of integrity and he wouldn’t have changed without good reason. We know him well enough to trust him in his decision and it was the right one for him personally and his family.”
Assistant coach Eric Bloch-Hansen will step in as the head coach for the remainder of the season and while it is his first gig leading the charge at Lakeland College, Rawlake isn’t worried about the transition, nor is he worried there will be any let down on the court.
“We just turn the reins over to Coach Bloch-Hansen. We met with him and told him where we want to see the program go and what’s going on,” Rawlake said. “He’s on our page, he’s been around the team for six years as an assistant to Phil Allen and to Tom, so Eric has a lot of basketball experience and he knows the philosophies we have here in our department and he’s ready to carry on and keep things going in a positive direction and build on what the foundation is.”
With Groat resigning, the Rustlers found themselves fortunate to have Bloch-Hansen and assistant coach, Kevin Huber in the mix as they can step in immediately and continue on with the season.
“With Eric taking over it’s definitely a bit of a Godsend. It made our lives easier,” Rawlake said. “We talked about the fact that my history is a volleyball guy, Al Rogan’s (athletic director) is volleyball, so if one our volleyball coaches left we have qualified people who can just jump in until we found a replacement. We don’t have those resources basketball wise. So having Eric around is great for the program.”
It’s a big step for both the Rustlers and Bloch-Hansen, but the feelings around athletics at Lakeland are that there will be an easy transition and while there may be a bump or two in the road as the team finishes the regular season, things are in good hands.
“He’s excited, he’s nervous, but we have full confidence he’ll do a great job the rest of the year,” Rawlake said of Bloch-Hansen taking over. “The players like him, they respect him, they’ll listen to him and we think they’ll just keep pushing forward.”
Check Thursday’s Source to find out how Bloch-Hansen did in his debut as head coach.