Cadets have not been short on leadership

FORT WAYNE — The last time Concordia made it to a boys basketball semistate, Tim Reinking was leading the program. Well, Reinking is still around as the Cadets have a rematch of sorts against Andrean, the same school they faced 13 years ago, in a Class 3A semistate game today.

Reinking has just moved down a couple of seats and now serves as Josh Eggold’s junior varsity coach. The program has thrived with Eggold and Reinking this season, making a deep postseason run.

“Tim and I are good friends first and foremost,” Eggold said. “When he got out, he has been nothing but supportive. He is the one who got this ball rolling with the (Cadet) Cagers program. These kids all began under his leadership. For him, this has been a neat run to see them perform this well on the big stage. He has been such a good mentor for me because of the experience he brings, but just handling of the change in roles with a lot of class and encouragement to me.”

In 2007, Reinking switched roles with Eggold, who had served as an assistant to Reinking for seven years in two different stints. Reinking admits that stepping down as the head coach was “tough,” but he credits the Christian faith and humbleness of both men for making the switch work.

“It is always a delicate balance for both of us,” Reinking said. “He gives me the proper respect because he was in this position before. But at the same time, I have to give him the proper respect and say this is Josh’s team.

“Hopefully (the humbleness) helps with the delicate balance or I have to step back and make sure I don’t overstep my bounds. Josh does a great job with it. It is like any relationship, a relationship of transition. It might be one thing one year, and it evolves into something else 10 years later. It is a natural progression of human interaction. Josh has handled it amazingly well. He is a very humble man and, because of that, it is easy on me.”

Reinking was 142-75 in 11 years leading the Cadets, and after a slow start, Eggold is 78-56 in six years.

Eggold was the Cadets’ junior varsity assistant for three years before heading to a high school in Florida as the boys basketball head coach, athletic director and dean of students for a couple of years. He returned as the head JV coach for four years before taking over the Concordia program.

In 2000, the Cadets fell to Andrean 77-57 in the semistate in Frankfort. Since then, Concordia has won only one sectional title.

“At the regionals, I tried to get everybody to act like they have before here before, have a little swagger when you get there because you think you have been there before,” Reinking said of using his experience with making a run to the semistate. “You have to mentally fool yourself a little bit. That’s the mindset I have tried to get them to have this week. The players have not been in awe, and that was my goal going in. The players have handled it very well.”

And again Andrean stands in the way of a Cadets team going to the state finals. In 2002, Andrean beat the Concordia football team in a semistate.

“It is a lot of irony, or coincidental,” Reinking said of Concordia facing Andrean again. “Right now, Andrean has been the roadblock for us to get to state in both football and basketball.”