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Grizz fills voids with Humann, Cornelius By TIM TROWER Mail Tribune ASHLAND - Come next winter, Steve Humann might look as much like an air traffic controller as a basketball coach. His chair is mobile. He wears a headset. He speaks into a microphone. His voice resonates through speakers at either end of the court. And, of course, he'll direct traffic. Humann, who has been named the girls basketball coach at Ashland High, will do the work he loves at a higher level than at any time since a brain tumor operation 20 years ago went wrong and relegated him to a wheelchair. The former Southern Oregon University men's coach is one of two new hoop mentors at the school. It also was announced Monday that Rick Cornelius, a veteran of 23 years of coaching, will take over the boys basketball program. Humann, 56, replaces Stephanie Santos, who coached the Grizzlies to the second round of the Class 4A state subtournament last winter. Ashland was 13-14 overall. Cornelius takes over for John Skinner, under whom he served as an assistant last year. Skinner headed the program for five years and produced a record of 31-83. Given his physical limitations, Humann will not be your typical high school coach. But, the man named Ashland's citizen of the year in 2000, has been busting down barriers for two decades and seems unwilling to stop now. "I'm no more apprehensive than a normal coach," he said in the slow, measured voice he had to relearn. Then he laughed, "I'm hoping everything goes well and knowing that it won't." The operation that nearly took his life came in December 1982, when Humann was in his third season as the Southern Oregon coach. It lasted seven hours and proved to be fruitless because the tumor was very close to the brain stem. He was in a coma for four weeks. Humann had two more operations - a tracheotomy and a shunt procedure that allows fluid to go from his brain to the rest of his body. A severe bout with pneumonia nearly killed him, then he underwent exhaustive physical therapy. With time, Humann has improved greatly, so much so that he's coached youth basketball for the past dozen or so years. Most of the players on Ashland's varsity were under his tutelage for several years. Although friends have encouraged him to apply whenever basketball openings have occurred in recent years, Humann acquiesced this time to provide stability to a program with its third coach in three years. "They've all played for me," he said of the Grizzlies' varsity members. "They all understand the chair. In most programs, the head coach doesn't do a whole lot of physical coaching. The assistants do a lot of it, so I think we'll be fine." Ross Caldwell will be one of his assistants, but Humann is uncertain about the makeup of his entire staff. Athletic Director Jim Nagel pointed to Humann's knowledge of the game and his commitment to it as evidenced by his involvement in youth leagues even though his kids have long since grown up. Humann's coaching career began in 1968, when he was a student assistant at San Francisco State College. Freshman and assistant posts followed at Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo in California and Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., before he returned to the West Coast for his first head position at Southern Oregon in 1980. "He has tremendous, tremendous community support," said Nagel. "I must have gotten well over 30 letters of recommendation, probably as many phone calls and a number of drop-ins. He commands the kids' respect and the parents' respect, and he's just been real solid." Humann's support group includes friends and parents of players. They will help him tackle the rigors of travel. "Most of the parents have been around me for four or five years," he said. "The dads know how to handle me and take me around, so I don't think it'll be a problem." Nor will communication with the players be an issue because of the speakers. "During practice, I turn that sucker up and they pay attention to me," he said. "I could blow you out of the gym with it. The girls don't like it real high when I start calling out their names." The Grizzlies figure to be one of the Southern Oregon Conference's stronger teams. Returners include Marla Morin, a first-team all-conference performer as a junior, third-team guard Alysse Carlson and honorable-mention wing Stefani Talbott. On the boys side, Cornelius brings a wealth of experience. He coached for 16 years in the Reno, Nev., area, including eight years as the head coach of boys and girls teams at McQueen High School. Since coming to the Rogue Valley in the mid-90s, he was an assistant at North Valley, aided the North Medford program and assisted at Ashland. "He did a great deal of the actual application in the program this year," said Nagel. "It won't be a real dramatic change for the players. The transition should be relatively smooth." Though he was comfortable in the role of an assistant coach, Cornelius couldn't pass up this chance. "I feel like we have the opportunity here to develop some good, skilled kids," he said. "I felt the need to step up and make myself available." Cornelius is mindful that Ashland has won only one league game in two years, but he's encouraged by what he saw of last year's team. Six players return on varsity, including three - Bryan Clevenger, Nick Palmesano and Chris Presicci - who started most of the time. Improvement over last year is the first step. "If we can show improvement and compete on a healthy level," he said, "the wins will take care of themselves." Reach sports editor Tim Trower at 776-4479, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.