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July 14, 2012

Ex-TCSF coach takes national post

He'll be executive director for high school association

By MIKE ECKERT meckert@record-eagle.com

TRAVERSE CITY — Dave Ginsberg, who spent his career coaching basketball in the state, will now be an administrator at the national level.

Ginsberg, 66, was named executive director for the National High School Basketball Coaches Association on Thursday. The organization just hit its two-year milestone, but Ginsberg, who lives in Traverse City, is the first to hold his new position.

"About a year and a half ago, they said they have this executive board, so they needed to create an executive director position to answer directly to the board and facilitate a lot of the things they need done," Ginsberg said. "I was contacted a year and a half ago to see if I was interested. I said I was. It's been a process, but I'm humbled beyond belief."

Tom Hursey, Basketball Coaches Association of Michigan executive director, was one of the first involved with the NHSBCA and is currently a board member.

"Not every state has a Basketball Coaches Association," Ginsberg said. "Tom initiated it. A bunch of guys got together and they said 'we've got all these coaches associations in individual states, why don't we try to put together a National High School Coaches Association, which would be an umbrella organization over all these state organizations."

Currently, the NHSBCA has a little more than 30 states involved.

"My job is really diverse, but certainly a big part is to get us up to 50 states," Ginsberg said. "We want every state in. In some cases that's tricky, because some states don't have a Coaches Association yet. Every state is in a different state of development, which makes it really complex. But it's a fun challenge.

"I'll travel around and do what I do. Spread the word on the beauty of the game and the people that play it. I'll do what I can. I'm a recruiter, so I'm going to go recruit."

Ginsberg spent 16 years as an assistant coach at Central Michigan University, including the Dan Majerle era. He coached high schools in the Flint area and most recently spent two years at St. Francis for the 2009 and 2010 winter seasons.

"I missed coaching the last couple of years, but I've been working individually with some players from West and Central," Ginsberg said. "But really, being away from the game has been tough for me. Once you're a coach, you're always a coach. Sometimes you have a team and sometimes you don't, but you're always a coach. To be able to jump back in with this organization is a wonderful thing for me. Certainly it's a different kind of involvement, but anytime you're involved in athletics, coaching or administration, your main objective is young people and improving their lives. I'm just doing it from a different perspective now."

After his new job on Thursday, Ginsberg is excited to get going.

"I know BCAM is going to grow and I know the national organization is going to grow, because I'm going to turn up the heat," Ginsberg said. "It's going to take awhile, but good things take time to grow."

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