By Patrick Hayes

There are a lot of qualities about East Lansing High School basketball coach Steve Finamore that could probably be classified as ‘old school.’ The ‘play the right way’ phrase, famously and repeatedly used by Hall of Famer Larry Brown (perhaps the oldest school of the old school coaches), is a staple of Finamore’s vernacular, for example.

“Basketball hasn’t changed in 50 years,” Finamore says. “You play defense, you pass the ball, be a good teammate and support and root for your teammates, then you will have success.”

But don’t confuse Finamore’s embrace of the foundational or ‘old school’ values of basketball as inflexibility to the opportunities that exist through modern scouting, thinking and technology. While some coaches are downright hostile towards social media and the internet, seeing it solely as a distraction, Finamore has found it useful. In fact, you don’t even have to follow high school basketball to be familiar with Finamore because his presence and his ‘See The Ball‘ basketball blog have become so well-known.

His Twitter feed, which has nearly 2,500 followers, is an often prolific stream of insightful commentary on whatever pro or college game happens to be on TV, links to interesting basketball articles he finds, inspirational quotes and it basically serves as a running diary into the mind of how a coach watches and processes what goes on on a basketball court.

His blog features longer form writing which often touches on things he’s picked up from other coaches (including a recent post on lessons he learned working for Tom Izzo on the Michigan State basketball support staff earlier in his career), historical pieces on former coaches or players, basketball strategy and reflections on his own experiences as a coach. These outlets have showcased Finamore’s knowledge of the game and made him a must-follow for fans of high school, college or even NBA basketball. It has helped him develop relationships with coaches, media, writers and thinkers in all areas of the game. His opinion is a valuable one all over the web. He even did a lengthy interview with a Golden State Warriors blog a few years back.

“My sister-in-law told me about Twitter a few years ago, and I thought, ‘Ah, what is this? I don’t want to sit here and tell people what I’m doing all the time,’” Finamore said. “But I tried it out, and it has really been a great way to connect and network with people and exchange ideas with other coaches and people involved in the game.”

Growing up in basketball-crazed Brooklyn, N.Y., Finamore has always had a love for the game fostered by the fact that, as he says, “In my neighborhood, everyone just played basketball. I was always around the game starting at a young age.”

But basketball wasn’t his only love. He also always wanted to be a writer (he’s currently writing two books), and the blog provides an outlet for that passion.

Finamore’s desire to continuously learn about the game and to meet and get to know the motivations of other coaches and innovators has served him well in his coaching career. In addition to working for Michigan State earlier in his career, Finamore also coached in New Jersey before moving to Michigan and he spent three seasons as the head coach at Jackson Community College before taking the East Lansing job. He helped quickly build Jackson, which was just launching its basketball program, into a respected, tough opponent in a state where JUCO basketball is extremely competitive.

At East Lansing, he took over a program coming off a sub-.500 season that had undergone some controversies and quickly turned it around. East Lansing is 32-10 in Finamore’s two seasons and primed to continue building on that next season.

“East Lansing is a great environment for basketball,” he said. “When I took the job, there were people who thought I was crazy, who didn’t think the program could be turned around that quickly, but I did my homework (before taking the job) and knew that there was talent here and that this was a great opportunity.”

Finamore said that he’s been focused on developing younger players coming up through the ranks so that the program can sustain success while at the same time meeting the needs of the upperclassmen in the program.

“Our goal is just to be consistent,” Finamore said. “We eventually want to get to where a program like Sexton is, where they not only have a lot of great individual players who go on to Division I schools, but they all sacrifice for each other and do what it takes to win. It’s always going to be a team game. We want to be consistent with our approach every year and hopefully someday build to something like Sexton or Romulus, schools that win and are successful every year.”

Moving from the college ranks to high school has had some key differences, namely that at Jackson, Finamore had a long opportunity to get to know his players, their goals and what motivates them during the recruiting process. At the high school level, coaches have to be more flexible, get to know kids more rapidly and change how they communicate at times to get maximum results. Although he’s a passionate coach who will get on his players, he’s also adaptable to different approaches to get his message across.

“I looked at myself on film at Jackson once and said, ‘Why am I yelling so much?,’” he said. “In college with older players, you can get after guys a little more. With younger players, you have to know when to get on guys and when not to and figure out what they respond to.”

With East Lansing’s resurgence, the Lansing area, which already features great programs at Sexton, Lansing Eastern and Okemos, has become even more competitive. What makes it an even better place for basketball is that those high schools are right next door to Izzo’s program at Michigan State.

“It’s huge (to be so close to MSU),” Finamore said. “Coach Izzo is great with high school coaches. He opens his practices to any high school coach who wants to come and watch. I like to think of it as a grad school for coaching and coach Izzo is the professor. Tom paid his dues in coaching and he really understands what we do. He has great respect for high school coaches. I highly recommend that any coach who can get to a practice take advantage of that.”

Finamore has found great value in his ability to meet, work with and communicate with other coaches.

“Coaching comes down to relationships,” Finamore said. “I try to be an ambassador of the game and I’m always willing to reach out to other coaches whenever I can.”