Bigfork coach Josh Downey is a refreshing style of coach

Josh Downey stands at the three-point line, his players positioned around the court waiting for coach to put the ball into play. Downey shoots, the players tense, ready for action.The shot sinks.

A smile plays across Downey’s face before he resets, misses the next shot and the Vikes spring into action.

The Vikings head into the state tournament this weekend, undefeated and prepared for anything, thanks to head coach Josh Downey.

Watching Downey in practice, you can tell he loves this sport. He handles the ball easily, dribbling between his legs as he strolls down the court, observing players. He squats on the sidelines, hand on his chin as he keeps a close eye on his team, handing out critiques. He doesn’t yell. Mistakes mean push-ups. Corrections are explained calmly. For a coach, he’s very even keel, and that is very much intentional.

He keeps his emotions in check. Downey said he might be nervous going into a game but he knows that he’s the example for his players, and nerves won’t do them any good. “If I’m even keel, they’ll feed off that,” he said.

Before every game he does some kind of icebreaker, something to make the team laugh and relax. Before one game, it was kicking a shopping cart in the locker room.

Downey has focused on building relationships since he arrived back in Bigfork last year as activities director and head coach for his alma mater. Good relationships with the kids is his No. 1 priority. Good relationships, he said, lead to success.

Downey graduated from Bigfork High School in 1999 and went on to play basketball for Concordia College in Moorhead, Minn., where he received a degree in physical education, and coached for two years after graduation.

He then moved to Spokane and began working toward his masters in athletic administration at Gonzaga, where he was the graduate assistant coach for the basketball team. After completing his masters Downey continued coaching college basketball as an assistant coach at Whitworth College.

Coaching college basketball kept him on the road, and at 26, with a wife and baby, Downey decided he wanted to be travelling less, and with his family more. So he took a job as a head coach at Heritage Hills High School in Vancouver, Wash. When he entered the team had a record of 0-20. His goal was to win just one game. But he led the team to 14 wins and the school’s first district championship.

While he was making great progress with the Heritage Hills program, his wife was unable to find a job in Vancouver, so the couple made the move to Boise, Idaho, where the couple could find work. Downey began coaching at Timberline High School where he also taught P.E.

Downey however, was still very close with former Bigfork head coach Kurt Paulson, and visited Bigfork every summer. He learned Paulson was leaving to join Wayne Tinkle’s coaching staff for the Montana Grizzlies. Downey however, wasn’t interested in taking over Paulson’s old job.

Eventually high school principal Matt Porrovecchio called Downey, and from there things began to fall into place. Downey accepted the position as Activities director and his wife found a job. Within two weeks they were moved, and Downey started working the day they arrived in Bigfork.

At first, coaching at his old high school was a little strange. Some of the other faculty members are former classmates, and some are teachers he had as a student. And some of the other coaches coached him, and now Downey is supposed to evaluate them.

Downey said it’s taken a little time, but he’s seeing the trust level continue to rise, as he builds rapport with students and the community. And as he leads the Vikes through an incredible undefeated season, he’s happy back in Bigfork. “It’s the best job I’ve ever had,” he said.

Part of what makes the job so enjoyable is the support Bigfork shows for Viking athletics. Many of the faces in the crowd are familiar.

Downey said he’ll hear people yell things from the stands like, “Where’d the players learn to pass?” Implying that was something he didn’t do as a player in the 1990s.

“What you don’t see in the box scores is how unselfish they are,” he said. “They’re always hitting the open guy.”

This past week the Vikings have been gearing up for their first game of state tournament against Joliet on Thursday, at noon in Bozeman. Downey is feeling confident that this team can deliver.

“I don’t think it will be much different than the last 23 games,” he said. “I’ve tried to teach these guys the game, so they can think for themselves out there. They’re calling plays before I do.”

Downey motivates they guys with life lessons.

“We’ve been talking a lot about fun — different types of fun,” he said. “The kind of fun they’re having here is competing with their friends and winning.”

He’s been teaching the kids that 20 years down the road they won’t remember any of the physical pain involved in training and practice. What they’ll remember will be the emotions they felt on this journey to state. They’ll remember the emotional pain of losing the state title, or the emotional joy of winning the first-ever state title in basketball for Bigfork.

No matter how this weekend plays out, Downey said there will be no regrets.