Ninnis Gets Honor of Taking Warriors Back to State

Honor.

It’s what Mel Ninnis calls being able to take his team to the Class 2A state basketball tournament.

“People don’t understand how difficult it is to place at state,” he said. “Some schools seem to do it all the time, because they’ve got the coach or the kids or the community, so it’s a real honor when I get to take kids to state.”

Some would argue that Clover Park now has all three. But no one knows better than Ninnis how long the road to state can be. In his 16 years as head coach, he has taken just four teams to the big show, and only one has placed – so far.

The Warriors face River Ridge at 10:30 a.m. today at the Yakima Valley SunDome. If they advance past the quarterfinals, there is a chance for a rematch with Squalicum in Saturday’s championship game after falling to the Storm last weekend in the regional round of the tournament.

It’s been 13 years, but the 1998 team – and its seventh-place finish – is hardly a distant memory. Two of his star players, Ryan Ninnis and Sam Moore, are back as assistant coaches – and Ninnis couldn’t be happier.

“It means that I’m not as much of a jerk that other people might think,” he joked, “because my kids want to come back and be part of the program. It really means a lot to me.”

And Moore said that he is exactly the same as he was more than a decade ago.

“He’s still a basketball advocate, still energetic, yelling, wishing he could be in there fighting with the kids,” he said. “He’s a little older, but he still has that young enthusiasm.”

And so does his coaching staff.

Freshman guard Ahmaad Rorie said that working with former players makes a big difference.

“They already have the experience that we need and they know what it takes for us to get to our success,” he said.

Moore, who graduated in 1998 and now works as a trainer at 24-Hour Fitness, said that coaching this group after playing on what was Clover Park’s most prolific team of all time is something of a double-edged sword.

“We were first,” he said. “We kind of started the state (run) thing, so for the five years I’ve been coaching here, I’ve wanted a team to come through and dethrone us.”

Ryan Ninnis, who is in his first season as an assistant coach, felt similarly.

“When you’re a player, you see it from a totally different angle than when you’re a coach. You want it so much more, and you can have that point of view of if ‘I could have given more’ … Those couldas, wouldas, shouldas come back to you.”

Ninnis, who graduated in 2000 and now teaches at his church and works at Nordstrom, said that one thing hasn’t changed: his father's dedication.

“Some people are just made that way, where they exude that passion, that encouragement and that love for the game of basketball, but more than that, the love of people,” he said.

“He wants to see his players, his students, succeed in life as men.”

And his players see that. Senior forward Marcus Sheppard defines Ninnis as a motivator.

“He tries to get us prepared for life,” he said. “This isn’t just basketball – this is the beginning of our lives.”

Freshman guard David Crisp said that Ninnis was the deciding factor in why he came to Clover Park in the face of pressure from his friends to play for cross-town rival Lakes.

“He is the reason I came here,” he said. “Coach Ninnis is a good man – and a good coach.”

Ninnis said that building such relationships makes it all worthwhile – the long hours, the long road trips, the long losing stretches.

“Every year, I get rewards and memories, but when you get the success with it, the days don’t seem as long,” he said. “You don’t got to go to work; you get to go to work. And that’s how it’s been this year.”

Asked which team – 1998 or 2011 – would win in a match-up, Ninnis wasn’t sure.

He calls the 1998 team one with few outside threats – Ryan Ninnis was an exception – but the best rebounding team in state history. The Warriors still hold the 3A state tournament record for their 191 rebounds.

This year’s group is “real guard outside-inside instead of inside-outside oriented,” and features high-caliber guards Crisp and Rorie, as well as the veteran leadership of senior forward Tana Pritchard.

“They’re the best team I’ve ever had,” he said.

But his son was adamant that 1998 would still come out on top.

“It would be rough, but I think we would still get them – four out of seven in a series.”