By Shannon Fagan, WEIS Sports Director
SPRING GARDEN – Draevan Bowman and Madison Bates know first-hand the championship standards Ricky Austin set during his 30-year coaching career at Spring Garden. They both played for him and later coached alongside him within the Panther athletic program.
Now, Bowman and Bates hope to pick up where their mentor left off.
Both coaches were officially named Austin’s successors Thursday. Bowman will take over in girls basketball and Bates in volleyball.
Austin took the Jacksonville State head women’s basketball position last week. He coached the girls basketball program at Spring Garden since 1996 and compiled 801 wins, along with over 200 more victories on the boys side. He also accumulated 688 victories in volleyball.
In all, Austin led Spring Garden to nine state titles in basketball and three more in volleyball. The court at Dale Welsh Gymnasium in Spring Garden was named in his honor in April of 2018. He was inducted into the Alabama High School Sports Hall of Fame on March 23.
Those are certainly lofty accomplishments for anyone to follow, but Bowman – a 2018 Spring Garden graduate – and Bates – a 2016 Spring Garden grad – feel they are up for the challenge and ready to begin a new era.
Both coaches also have Austin’s blessing.
“We talked yesterday (Wednesday). He’s proud. Feeling his pride makes me happy. He’s the most important coach I’ve ever had in my life,” Bowman said. “He has pride for this staff. He’s proud of this group of people and this group of girls as well, not just me. More than anything, he’s proud of Spring Garden and proud for Spring Garden.”
Bates said she talked to Austin the Sunday before he took the JSU job.
“He said ‘You’re ready for this. I’m going to recommend your name if you’re all right with that,’” Bates said. “I said ‘Absolutely.’ I’m excited about it. I’ve learned a lot from him, and that makes it even better.
“When I came back here (after a year at Cleburne County), he said this was his plan for me. One day when he left – he didn’t know when it was – he said ‘I want you to take over the program one day.’ I’m excited that it’s here.”
Spring Garden principal Brian Clowdis said he considers it a “blessing to have people on staff who are highly capable and understand the culture we have here.”
“I think these two are up for the challenge,” Clowdis said. “They understand that to be successful you’ve got to work really hard and continue the things we’ve been doing. I think both of them will be up for that.
“It’s a daunting task to follow a guy like Ricky Austin who has too many rings to fit on his hands, but I think Draevan is going to be a really good fit. I think he’s going to work really, really hard,” Clowdis said. “Madison has already been helping with volleyball, so I think it’s going to be an easy transition. They’re both young and they’re excited. They’re ready to go, and I think the kids are going to be excited to play for both of them.”
Bowman will transition over to the girls’ basketball program after being an assistant to Levi Hatcher on the Panther boys basketball team. He said he talked to both squads about the transition on Thursday morning.
“That was a difficult conversation with the boys, but they’re mature and know how to handle it,” Bowman said. “Leaving that side of it is hard, but feeling the excitement from the girls is pretty special too. It’s been kind of two sides of the coin. You hurt because you’re stepping away from those boys, but then you feel the excitement of a young group of girls, and that’s fun.
“We had a good meeting. The first thing we talked about was this was going to be different, but the standards aren’t changing. The day-to-day operations of what we do and how we conduct ourselves are not going to change. In order to do right by them, I’ve got to be Draevan Bowman. The conversation we had was I’m going to be me. I’m not going to try to be anybody else.”
Bates was Spring Garden’s head junior varsity volleyball coach. She also assisted Austin with the varsity squad.
“We’ve got most of our team returning from last year, and that’s exciting,” Bates said. “This was one of my first JV groups when he (Austin) said he wanted me to take over JV. That brings me some comfort knowing I’ve already been the head coach of this group before, just at a different level.
“I love this group. They’re fun. They want to win. They love volleyball.”
While both coaches are excited for their new coaching endeavors, they’re also excited for each other. They grew up together as athletes at Spring Garden, and now, they look to grow together as head coaches.
“Madison is going to do a phenomenal job. She’s as detailed and organized as anybody,” Bowman said. “Just talking to her throughout this whole process, I know she’s already got a plan. She’s itching to get ready. It puts me at ease a little bit knowing we’re kind of working together on this thing. She’s going to knock it out of the park. That’s a home run hire in my opinion. She’ll do a phenomenal job. I’m proud for her.”
“I’m excited for Draevan. I think he deserves this and I think he’s going to do a great job,” Bates said. “We talked about it the other day. We share athletes. Everybody here does because we’re a small school. I trust Draevan to take care of our athletes (in the weight room) and work them out in athletics. I fully trust him with the volleyball girls, putting them through the right things. That just doesn’t happen everywhere. We’re really fortunate we get along and work well together.”
