When Arden and Lynn Bradford enter the gym Thursday night as Glen Lake travels to Onekama they can offer a guarantee few other parents can.
They can guarantee coach Bradford’s team will win. Their sons are Lakers coach Jason Bradford and Portagers coach Nathan Bradford.
'I'm going to put it in God's hands,'she said. 'They are both good coaches and may the best team win.'
Arden and Lynn have never had the opportunity to watch their sons coach against each other. This will be the two brothers, and veteran coaches, first time opposing one another.
Glen Lake is entering the contest 11-3 overall and 7-1 in the Northwest Conference. Onekama is 4-5 overall and 9-7 in the conference.
Benzie Central leads the league at 9-0. Onekama came within seven of the Huskies last week. Glen Lake plays at Benzie Feb. 16. The Lakers fell 60-51 at home to the Huskies.
The Bradfords started coaching girls varsity basketball 16 years ago but their teams were in different conferences at the time. Nathan moved to boys coaching before Onekama and Glen Lake competed against each other in the Northwest Conference.
Jason, a special education teacher at Glen Lake, moved over to the boys side this season after leading the Lakers to the state championship last season. He owns a record of 282-72 overall girls record, winning seven Northwest Conference, six district and five regional championships. His teams advanced four times to the Final Four before winning last year’s Division 4 championship, the school’s first girls basketball title since 1978.
He didn’t stay off the bench long, returning as the Lakers junior varsity coach for this season. He moved to interim head varsity coach over the winter break when Rob Flaska resigned.
The Lakers picked up a pair of rivalry wins in Jason’s first two games at the helm. He did not expect to return to head coaching so soon but has hopes the interim title will someday be removed and he will continue as the Lakers’ head coach.
“I was adjusting to the assistant job and things just worked out,” Jason said. “I am blessed with a great group of young men.”
Nathan played college basketball after helping the Portages reach the state semifinals. He is also the athletic director at Onekama.
In addition to coaching against his brother, Jason and the Lakers will also be coaching against three nephews.
Jason’s son Toby, a freshman, will play for Glen Lake in the junior varsity contest Thursday. He’ll be playing against cousin, Carson, also a freshman on the JV Onekama team. The JV Portagers are coached by Nick Bradford, Jason and Nathan’s younger brother.
Nathan’s son Caden will start against the Lakers as will two other Bradford’s — Luke, a sophomore, and junior Arden Bradford, sons of Arden Bradford.
The Bradford coaches often talk after their games and learn from one another. They have also seen their parents frequently in the bleachers as they rotate home game sites to see their grandchildren play and their sons coach.
“We had always set up a girls’ scrimmages and I have to admit that Jason usually got the better of me at that time,” Nathan said. “But we really help each other out and talk about coaching strategies quite a bit.”
“Usually after games we call each other and get the run down on each other’s games,” Nathan added. “It helps having another sibling in the family that coaches a varsity sport to talk to and bounce things off.”
Jason’s youngest son Drew is now a sixth grader at Glen Lake. His oldest son, J.J. is now at Michigan Tech and has begun officiating basketball. His daughters Maddie and Grace are currently playing basketball for Lake Superior State University.
Going into tonight’s contest the Lakers are led by Jacob Plamondon’s 20 points per game and Benjamin Allen’s 10 point average. Plamondon is also the team’s leading rebounder with nearly 10 per game. Dylan Cundiff kicks in almost seven rebounds each game.
Onekama and Glen Lake were already scheduled to play this season but a snowstorm forced the cancellation. That game will be rescheduled for February 23 at Glen Lake as both teams finish the regular season.
For some time, both head coaches were preparing for this day.
“It’s the first match against each other,” Jason said. “We’re used to playing years of high school ball and pick up ball in the barn and we coach against each other now.”
Should Onekama and Glen Lake win their respective districts, they will meet in the first game of the regionals, likely on a neutral court.
Now, it may not be too far into the future Arden and Lynn can guarantee a win for the Bradford’s playing varsity basketball for Glen Lake and Onekama as well. They could practice it tonight in a JV contest.
