Announcement

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The Real Deal

Posted by Michael Glick on Dec 05 2018 at 04:00PM PST

Since he was as old as the teens he now coaches, Mike Glick knew his place in life would be along the sidelines of a high school gym.The Meade Mustangs’ new boys’ basketball coach — who will look for his 482nd career win tonight in the Mustangs’ season opener at Oxon Hill — is continuing his mission to maximize his basketball players’ potential and prepare all his Meade students for life after high school.“I always knew I wanted to coach,” Glick said. “In my high school yearbook, it said: ‘Where do you want to see yourself in 20 years?’ And I said, ‘Coaching basketball.’ So I followed my dream.”

Glick is a total Maryland product. He was born and raised in Montgomery County, graduated from the former Robert E. Perry High School in Rockville, and attended St. Mary’s College, where he played basketball and baseball.A guard by trade, Glick joked that he’s dating himself when he mentions that he himself held a lot of St. Mary’s scoring records for a time because the advent of the 3-point line occurred during his junior year.“I was an outside shooter, so when the 3-point line came in, it was awesome,” he said. “I wish I played my whole career with it.”Making A DifferenceAfter spending five years coaching at the college level, Glick took his first high school coaching position in 1993 with St. Vincent Pallotti in Laurel, where he led the Panthers to the WCAC Division II championship in just his second year.In 1999, he began a seven-year stint at nearby Archbishop Spalding, where he racked up two Baltimore Catholic League titles, three MIAA regular-season championships and one MIAA tournament title.Glick has coached multiple players who have gone on to play at the next level and beyond, including former Maryland Terrapins center Will Bowers and current San Antonio Spurs starting small forward Rudy Gay. 

But honing the skills of his players is really only a singular aspect of his job, Glick said.“The No. 1 thing for me is to make a difference in people’s lives and to see the players move on and become productive members of society,” he said.“That’s one thing people can expect. We’re going to have good kids, academically inclined, who’ll be productive members of society. And I try to do that as a classroom teacher, too.”The attention that Glick gives to students leads outgoing coach Pete Corriero to believe the program will continue to thrive under his longtime friend and colleague.“Meade’s getting a professional high school coach,” Corriero said.Under Corriero, Meade didn’t just succeed, they dominated.On top of back-to-back 4A state semifinal appearances in 2014-15 and 2015-16 — winning the state title in the first trip — the Mustangs set the Anne Arundel County record for regular season wins with 26 in 2014-15, topping Annapolis High School’s 25-win record set in the 2000-01 season.Military Twist“Meade’s a hard job,” Corriero said. “People might only see the 32 minutes during the game [and not] the 23 hours and 28 minutes that go into [preparing for a game] or the behind-the-scenes stuff. … Learning to do all that effectively — a lot of that I learned from Mike.“They’re getting the real deal, the guy that really showed me how to do it.”

Winning may not be new to Glick, but the added wrinkle of coaching at a school where roughly one in four students has active military parents — and thus could transfer in or out with a moment’s notice — is a new challenge.Glick was immediately impressed by a student who tried out just five days after transferring to Meade from Baton Rouge, La. Immediately, he said, the kid was one of the best players in the gym.“So that’s something that for Coach Glick is a little bit new,” he said.“Usually you know everyone in the school and this young man just transferred in … and has just done a tremendous job. So the transient nature of the school is something for me that’s a little different, but I’m definitely embracing it.”

Glick doesn’t have a storied relationship with the military but said his father was a Korean War veteran. So far, said Glick, he’s been warmly welcomed by the entire community.“Absolutely love the community,” he said.“I have been very, very humbled by the overall support I’ve had. Everyone’s welcomed me with open arms and it’s just been a blessing. I really like it here.“I have tremendous kids, tremendous players and I’m just very happy.”New DivisionGlick spent 12 years coaching in the Maryland 2A division at Gwynn Park in Brandywine and is familiar with the county from his time at Spalding and the local connections he’s made over the years. But coaching in the 4A division will be new territory.Coming into this season, Glick has only gone up against Broadneck and Southern high schools. Southern is the only 2A school in Anne Arundel County.He’s seen the best the state’s public school system has to offer, though, as several of Baltimore City’s vaunted basketball programs play in the 2A division.“I think because of the Baltimore City component, the 2A championship is the hardest state championship to win because Baltimore City is where the best basketball is played,” Glick said.“Not that basketball in Baltimore is better, but what’s better is the public school basketball because not as many of those players go to private schools [as county players do].”The 4A division is still not a cakewalk, and Glick said he’s been impressed with the development of county basketball over the last two decades.“There’s a lot of good youth organizations … and I think the level of coaching is excellent that I’ve seen,” he said.“I don’t think 4A is without a challenge. It’s definitely a challenge. Our goal is to win a state championship at Meade. It’s been done before. Our goal is to do it again.”Four times Glick’s Gwynn Park teams advanced to the 2A state semifinals, but each time they lost to the eventual state champion.After winning division and conference titles in the WCAC, MIAA, Baltimore Catholic League and on the college circuit, a Maryland state championship is the one piece to the puzzle that has remained elusive.“It’s always our goal every season to win a state championship,” Glick said. “It’s extremely hard to do. A lot of things have to fall into place.“It would be tremendous to be able to do that sometime before my career ends. And I would love nothing more than to do it at Meade.” 

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