May 10, 2008 10:38 am
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TERRELL LESTER Column
Tim Stewart looks the part of a basketball coach. He’s on loan from central casting.
He has leading-man good looks. He’s power-forward tall and athletic trim. His smile is disarming and reflects the benevolent side of this strapping gentleman.
From the set of his jaw to the crop of his hair, Tim Stewart strikes an impressive pose.
He is charming and ingratiating. His conversational tone is brimming with passion. He is competitive and compatible.
He is honest, trustworthy and genuine. Well-grounded and down-home comfortable.
He is everything a high school administrator wants in a coach.
On the day last week when Tim Stewart was hired to coach the Claremore High School boys basketball team, Principal Todd Steidley acknowledged as much.
“He’s a good presence for us,” Steidley said.
“He will represent us well.”
Tim Stewart can fill a room, and turn heads, with that presence.
As the new basketball coach at Claremore High School, Tim Stewart will be expected to fill not only a room, but also a fieldhouse.
His enthusiasm won him the job. Now, that same enthusiasm must win over a team and a community.
Stewart embraces that challenge, relishes that opportunity.
“I am competitive. I am driven,” he says with conviction, his eyes sharp and focused.
He expects the same from his players.
“If you’re an athlete, you better be competitive. You better be driven. That’s the bottom line,” he said.
“You’re not just going to win because you want to. There’s going to be a lot of work involved.”
It is a strong work ethic, a confidence in what he does and how he does it, that defines Tim Stewart.
He also can be defined by his commitment to young people.
That commitment, that passion, surfaced during the screenings and interviews that led to his hiring.
Superintendent Mike McClaren was impressed. Steidley was impressed. They found that others before them had been impressed by Stewart.
“Every reference we checked was glowing,” Steidley said.
McClaren even went so far as to say “We’re excited” about the hiring of Stewart.
And why not? Stewart had emerged from a field of some 20 applicants as the clear-cut choice.
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