If you have played or watched high school basketball in Western Pennsylvania, when you hear the name Tim McConnell, three things come to mind: passion, intensity, and winning program at Chartiers Valley. Coach McConnell finished his 24th season as head basketball coach at Chartiers Valley. In those 24 seasons, 3 of the previous were not 20+ win seasons, 3 WPIAL Championships at the Triple A level and 3 at the Quad A level winning one with son TJ (now playing for the 76ers) and one with son Matty (currently playing at Robert Morris); success through hard work is a common theme for the McConnells. The phrase that he always instilled in campers, players, and students is “Your Attitude Determines Your Altitude”, he explains what that means plus much more in this week’s article.
The Culture
His phrase “Your Attitude Determines Your Altitude” is a very simple explanation when it is put in his words “It is exactly what it means, the better your attitude is the better chance you have of succeeding. If you have a great attitude about something, you can accomplish it. If your attitude is bad you will be like a cancer spreading through your team and it will limit your success.” With all of coach McConnell’s on the court success, I asked if he had ever had an offer to move on from Chartiers Valley to coach at the next level, “ I have not had an offer to go to the college level. I am treated really well at CV and love this school district and the community.” Just think about this the year before Coach McConnell arrived at Chartiers Valley, the Colts went 7-15, since then 20 of 23 seasons with 20+ and 15 players who have scored more than 1,000 points. How does that happen? “I think the hard work of the players in the off season plays a major part in our team’s success.”
The Coach
Coach Tim McConnell is as successful of a basketball coach as he is a life coach. When asked what got him into coaching, “I got into coaching because I knew I wasn't good enough to continue playing after college and this was my way of staying involved and giving back to this great game. I love teaching young men and women to get better as people and players.” Then he gave simple advice to young coaches out there just getting started, “Some parents are unrealistic about their child's ability and when things don't go right the 1st person they look to blame is the coach.”
He also covered the the best and worst things in addition to who his coaching rivals are in the WPIAL, “Best thing is the relationships we build with our players that last a lifetime. Worst thing is all the outside distractions that could be possible pitfalls for young athletes. We love playing USC, Lebo and Montour every year.
Coaching rivals are Danny Holser of USC and Billy Swan of Hempfield, I love beating them every year.”
The Father
Father of three, Coach McConnell has two boys: TJ, point guard for the Philadelphia 76ers, sophomore guard at Robert Morris Matty McConnell and the youngest of the family his daughter Megan a freshman at Chartiers Valley. As a coach, it is special to watch players grow from young kids to young adults, as a parent you want to watch your kids reach all of their goals and more. I asked coach how many games of TJ and Matty does he get to watch, “I don't miss any of Matt's home games and I see about 10 of Tj's games because of my games and now Megan's games for the CV varsity girls.” Diving a little deeper, I asked coach of his sons, which ones playing style resembles his when he played, “TJ's because I was a pass first point guard like he is. Knowing the competitive drive of Coach and TJ and Matty, I asked him who he thought would win in a game of horse, he answered “Megan beats us all.” So, the youngest of the McConnells is the horse champion!
Coach Tim McConnell can teach you how to shoot and he can teach you how to play defense. The most important thing he instills in you is how to be a good person and how to succeed long after the lights are off in the gym and your basketball days are behind you. He without a doubt is one of the best people I have had the privilege of knowing, he has been one of my role models since I was in kindergarten. The tools that he gave me that had nothing to do with basketball, but with life and how to be a respectful human being, are some that I use still to this day. He coaches with intensity, knowing his players’ capabilities and expecting nothing but your very best. The last question I asked Coach was what's after basketball? Again, coach being the straight shooter that he gave a very simple response to that question. “I plan on dying on the basketball court.”
Special thanks to Coach McConnell for taking the time to answer my questions. As coach would say “Your Attitude Determines Your Altitude!”
Written by
Carlo Guadagnino
Edited by
Ethan Barnes
Daniel Bishop M.A.
