Only basketball highlights on SportsCenter could take Tyler Notch’s mind off the pain.

Three practices into his junior season of high school, he landed awkwardly after a block attempt.

And just like that, the Cheyenne, Wyo., native shattered both his foot and his dreams of playing college basketball.

Notch admitted he thought about ending his basketball career the day he could never play again. But right before he threw in the towel, he saw the highlights of his favorite team and coach — the Duke Blue Devils and head coach Mike Krzyzewski — and everything changed.

‘I remember watching the two-minute highlight video and looking at coach K on the sidelines,’ Notch said. ‘Suddenly, it clicked, and I knew I didn’t have to give up basketball completely, just playing basketball.’ 

Notch, now a student assistant at Division-III DePauw University in Greencastle, Ind., hasn’t stopped chasing that goal since his epiphany three years ago. And the team’s coaching staff credits Notch with helping the Tigers upset two ranked teams, Wabash (Ind.) College and the College of Wooster (Ohio), in the same week last month.

Notch, who said his position is rare for a college sophomore, watches film, hosts recruits and has some input in game-planning. He also keeps stats, manages the team uniforms and helps with scouting.

‘It’s my job to help the coaching staff be prepared,’ Notch said. ‘And we were prepared to play those two teams.’

DePauw isn’t a major basketball power, but the school is where Clemson head coach Brad Brownell and Butler head coach Brad Stevens played their college careers.

After watching Notch work tirelessly to help the Tigers prepare for Wabash and Wooster, head coach Bill Fenlon believes Notch has what it takes to coach at the Division-I level one day. Notch has displayed the ability to work well with the players to go with an impressive understanding of the game.

Against No. 14 Wabash, Fenlon said Notch calmed players down before the highly anticipated rivalry game.

‘He’s in one of those unique situations where he’s not a coach, so players trust him,’ Fenlon said. ‘He really relates to the guys on the team, and they relate to him. It really has been a blessing to have him with us.’

The Tigers defeated Wabash 64-55 in a tight game that saw 14 lead changes. Notch came through again later that week when the team played No. 16 Wooster. Notch said he knew the coaching staff would fall behind on game-planning during a rivalry week, so he started taking notes on game tape of Wooster during preparation for Wabash.

Notch noticed that very few teams used a pressure defense against Wooster. And when opponents did, he saw the Fighting Scots almost always caved.

Assistant coach Brian Oilar met Notch when he was thinking about playing basketball as a walk-on at DePauw. But after reading Notch’s notes about Wooster, Oilar said he was thankful Notch was on the bench helping the coaching staff.

‘We started throwing some ideas back and forth about what our defense could do to take Wooster off guard,’ Oilar said. ‘And from the film, he knew we could trap them and generate some turnovers. It ended up taking them off guard, and it was a great idea overall.’

Oilar said that midweek adjustment led DePauw to another upset victory. With DePauw holding a slim seven-point lead with 1:38 left in its game against Wooster, Fenlon called for the full-court press.

Seconds later, sophomore guard Alex Payne stole the ball away from Wooster for a fast-break layup, sealing a 75-66 win for DePauw.

Both Fenlon and Oilar said Notch showed them what he could do when he interned with the coaching staff during the winter semester. After a month, Notch had helped DePauw defeat two Top 25 teams in one week for the first time since 2002.

‘He started learning, cutting up tape and watching recruits,’ Fenlon said. ‘And we started thinking he could be a special coach later on down the line.’

Notch knows if he wants to end up like his idol Krzyzewski and coach a top-flight basketball school, he needs to pay his dues on the sideline. And DePauw has proven to be a great place for him to break into the coaching profession. He was looking into two team manager positions with the basketball programs at Florida State and Michigan, but he stuck with DePauw because it offered him a more hands-on coaching experience.

Fenlon said he is glad Notch spurned the bigger basketball schools, but he said it may not be long until he sees Notch roaming the sidelines at a bigger school.

‘He’s just getting his feet wet — that’s the scary part,’ Fenlon said. ‘He’ll be successful because players love him, and he’s willing to work a hundred times harder than you if that’s what it takes.’

nctoney@syr.edu

Published on February 13, 2012 at 12:00 pm

Contact Nick: nctoney@syr.edu | @nicktoneytweets