DeWitt girls basketball coach Bill McCullen is looking to get the Panthers back to the Breslin Center in his 20th season.
DEWITT – Jan. 5 was one of the rare instances in which the DeWitt girls basketball team wasn’t scheduled to compete.
But senior Lilly George knew better than to expect a night off. Because in the eyes of her coach, Bill McCullen, there’s always something that can be done.
“He said, ‘There’s St. Johns vs. Grand Ledge tonight, Ionia vs. Haslett, so I want everyone to go to a game tonight,'” said George, whose team faced Waverly the following Friday. “He’ll probably get four hours of sleep all week just staying up and watching film for Friday. It’s the little things, he just takes everything so seriously and has a plan for everything.”
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McCullen’s meticulous attention to detail that George speaks of is part of the reason she’s been able to play under the bright lights of the Breslin Center. It’s also part of the reason the forward has been part of two conference championships and Class A district and regional titles.
And, not to mention, the reason she’s leading another Panther team that yet again expects to be playing in late March.
“I think that’s one of the things they learn quickly is that we’re pretty focused,” said McCullen, who is in the midst of his 20th season at the helm of the program. “We stay on task, we have routines, we have expectations and we’re consistent about that stuff.
“The kids who eventually get to the varsity level figure that out by watching the girls coming up before them. And my hope is that they see that and want to be like (them).”
It’s a cycle, and one that McCullen said he began to formulate shortly after taking over the team before the 1995-96 season. At that time, he set out to build a program that was supported by two basic pillars: consistency and tradition. And nearly two decades later, the current Panthers are a walking, talking example of the program’s essence.
DeWitt is off to a 9-0 start after losing four starters from last year’s Class A state runner-up team, which finished the season with a 25-2 record, and is currently ranked No. 2 in the latest Michigan Associated Press high school girls basketball poll.
George, who leads the team in scoring (15.0 points per game) and rebounds (6.6 rebounds per game), said seeing the Panthers regarded as one of the state’s best this early in the season surprised her.
However, McCullen said it hasn’t surprised him. Nor has it surprised current DeWitt volleyball coach Christy Drayton, who was a four-year guard under McCullen from 1999-2002.
“My freshman year we had Jen Smith, who went to play at Michigan and play in the WNBA, and we were 25-2,” she said. “Everyone said the next year was going to be a rebuilding year because we didn’t have Jen. He ended up taking us back to the final four. We went 21-4.
“Coach McCullen’s biggest thing, and I use this in volleyball, is that tradition never graduates. …He’s carried on a program for 20 years that always wins. No matter who is there.”
Drayton, who was on McCullen’s staff for seven years following graduation, was present when tradition was introduced, as an 11-year-old water girl on the varsity team. And since that time, she said the biggest thing McCullen, who is Mason native, has done is turn the program into a family.
One of McCullen’s assistants, former DeWitt hoops standout Sam Dalman, has been by his side for all 20 seasons. Same with junior varsity coach Scott Palmer. His other assistant, Marcy Uyl, is in the middle of her 11th season with the program. And until this past fall, the program has had the same seventh and eighth grade coaches since he started.
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“There’s a consistency, whether it’s the vocabulary or what people are emphasizing, all of the coaches at all the levels are good friends, get along, and understand their role in the process,” McCullen said. “Everyone is doing what they can to help the program become successful.”
Under McCullen, who has a career record of 367-79 and said he hasn’t had a losing season as a coach, the Panthers have captured everything possible except a state championship. As a part of Class B, the Panthers won three regional titles, seven district titles and 12 conference titles. In Class A, which it joined during the 2011-12 season, DeWitt has one regional and district title to its name, and three conference titles.
“He’s well liked, well prepared,” said Dalman, who was an assistant with McCullen on the boys staff in the early 1990s under the late Jim Lutzke. “Everything he does is very organized. Expectations are on the table, and there are no false expectations.
“Bill’s not only an educator, but he’s a student of the game. And I think at a young age he latched on to Jim Lutzke, who was a very successful coach at Williamston and came to DeWitt, and he was a great mentor for Bill.”
The Panthers still have a long way to go if they plan on living up to this year’s team slogan of “Our Turn,” a phrase referencing DeWitt’s pursuit of the elusive state title. Friday night’s conference showdown with Class A No. 4-ranked Haslett may tell how far the Panthers have really come in a short amount of time.
And regardless of the result, McCullen and his staff are going to be back at the drawing board the next day. He’s got another 20 years ahead of him.
“We know DeWitt is always going to have a good team,” George said. “It’s just how we’ve been brought up and how the program has been.”
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Contact James L. Edwards III at jledwards@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @JLEdwardsIII.