Making the jump from assistant coach to head coach can be a tough transition for anyone, especially if it comes during the middle of the season.
That was the case for Bret Saxton, who’s served as acting head basketball coach at Trinity High School since the middle of January.
More practices to organize. More film to watch. Less time to spend with family.
“Thankfully, my 2 ½-year-old seems to like basketball, so he’s watched some film with me,” Saxton said. “That’s been fun hearing his thoughts.”
Sixteen boys basketball coaches will chase state title dreams during this week’s UK Healthcare/KHSAA Sweet 16 at Rupp Arena, but no one envisioned Saxton being among that group when the season started.
In November, Mike Szabo began his 23rd season as Trinity’s head coach with more than 500 career victories, six regional titles and two state championships. Saxton was entering his 10th season as an assistant coach.
In December, Saxton took over head coach duties during the King of the Bluegrass Holiday Classic at Fairdale as Szabo dealt with health issues. Szabo returned for nine games after Christmas, the last one being a 59-58 overtime loss to St. Xavier on Jan. 12 in the semifinals of the Louisville Invitational Tournament.
“He was really struggling with his strength and stamina,” said Trinity athletics director Rob Saxton, Bret’s father. “That weekend is when we realized he’d be going out for an extended period of time.”
Trinity announced Jan. 22 that Szabo was taking a temporary leave to deal with health issues and that Bret Saxton would serve as acting head coach until his return.
Trinity officials have declined to comment on Szabo’s health status. Szabo has not returned messages seeking comment.
Bret Saxton has persevered, overcoming a 3-3 stretch to end the regular season and leading the Shamrocks to their first Sweet 16 appearance since 2019.
“Considering I’d never been in that first chair on the sideline, I think I was pretty confident,” he said. “A lot of that had to do with the staff around me. Having players certainly helps, knowing the roster we had was capable of getting to Rupp Arena.”
Senior guard Drae Vasser said the team’s goals never changed once Saxton took over.
“We were missing the head of our snake,” Vasser said of Szabo. “But the coaches told us if there’s a team that’s capable of doing this, it was definitely us. They told us to stay together and that our main goal was Rupp. Now we’re going to try to win this thing.”
Saxton, 37, was a junior guard on the 2004 Trinity team that was the school’s first to win a regional championship. He went on to play at Georgetown College and currently serves as Trinity’s director of communications.
Rob Saxton recalled the day he named his son acting head coach.
“I told him, ‘There will be times I’ll be talking to you as your dad, and there will be times I’m going to talk to you as your athletic director. They may be very different conversations,’” Rob Saxton said. “He said he was good with that and said he understood. He was a low-maintenance teenager, a low-maintenance student-athlete and he’s been a low-maintenance coach. He’s done a real good job.”
Rob Saxton often keeps the scorebook for Trinity games.
“To have him here, 2 feet from me keeping the book, most of the time it’s pretty special,” Bret Saxton said. “There are times he’ll offer unsolicited advice at the wrong time, wrong place. But I’ve really enjoyed going on this run with him.”
Bret Saxton said he often hears Szabo’s voice in the back of his head during games. He’s tried to put his own stamp on this team and said it mostly shows in the pace of play.
Szabo was famous for his “First team to 50 wins” philosophy.
“He was going to try to squeeze the life out of that game, and it worked,” Bret Saxton said. “I’ve sort of opened it up a bit more. There have been games when we’ve scored in the 70s and 80s. In a hypothetical vacuum with Mike still here, maybe that game would be in the 50s or 60s.
“Offensively … I’ve tried to be more loose in terms of, ‘Let’s get up and down a little bit more. Let’s keep our foot on the gas, even if we make a mistake or two.’”
Rob Saxton declined to comment on the future of the Trinity coaching position, saying the program is focused solely on the Sweet 16. Last month, Rob Saxton announced he’s retiring as Trinity’s AD at the end of this school year. Sean Duggins is set to replace him.
If Szabo is unable to return as head coach, Bret Saxton said he’d be interested in pursuing the job.
“I’ve enjoyed this more than I even thought I might,” he said. “But right now I’m fully focused on this team.”
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Jason Frakes: 502-582-4046; jfrakes@courier-journal.com; Follow on X @kyhighs.
