It has been a whirlwind few months for the Purdy boys basketball program. The Eagles made a run to the Class 2 Final Four in March where they finished in fourth place.
In August, Purdy coach Jeremy Dresslaer left to take the same position at Willard, which left the Purdy job open very late in the hiring game.
Enter Ryan Stokes.
Stokes previously had been a head coach at Miller, Spokane, Fordland and McDonald County. He and his family moved back to Missouri from West Palm Beach, Fla. in July.
“I wasn’t really looking for a coaching job, but I had told my wife Kyli in August that I feel God is calling me back into coaching. So she said go apply for a job. August isn’t the best time to go looking for teaching and coaching jobs, but it wasn’t but a few weeks later I get a call from Purdy asking if I would be interested in an unexpected opening they had,” Stokes said. “I really couldn’t have asked for a better opportunity. Have you ever been to Purdy? This is a great place. Have you ever been to a game here? I like to call it the ‘Purdy Passion’. This place loves basketball and even more than that they love hard work. Purdy has been a place where kids just come and play their butts off. I attribute this to the community and their parents. So why wouldn’t I want to come and be a part of this? This place always has kids that love basketball, work hard and win. Then the fact that the community is crazy supportive, that’s just a bonus.”
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He will be tasked with reloading a roster that returns just one starter and two others that saw significant time on last year’s final four squad.
Osiel Aldava is the lone returning starter. He became a starter midway through his sophomore year and averaged 7 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 steal per game last year.
“(Aldava) has a knack for hitting big shots and has the ability to lead our team in scoring if he wants. He can play inside and out. He should be a tough match for our opponents,” Stokes said.
Senior Fernando Garcia and junior Harley Stevens each saw action in at least 22 varsity games.
“Fernando was a role player last year. He played the backup point and was a great defender off the bench. He will be asked to take over the point guard duties and pick a large portion of the scoring. He is one of the fastest players I have ever coached and should cause fits for the other team on both ends of the floor,” Stokes said. “Harley got in a lot of games last year. He was a solid role player. I believe this year will be a breakout year for him. He has the ability to lead us in Rebounding and could be a consistent double digit scorer.”
Seniors Mason Schallert and Ky Propps along with junior Scotty Henry all return after seeing varying amounts of varsity action last year.
Cameron Corter and Brian Ruiz will be new varsity players in their senior seasons. Sophomore Clay Henderson will see a much expanded role on varsity.
“I think we are going to be a very quick team. From what I have seen in the open gyms we are pretty athletic and we have to ability to flat stroke it at times,” Stokes said. “I think our biggest strength still is our work ethic. I promise you that no other team will out work us.”
Purdy will also have to navigate a new conference in the SWCL this year after leaving the Ozark 7.
Brand new conference for me and them. Neither one of us will have the ability to rely on past experiences from the conference. So brand new players, brand new coaches and brand new gyms to play in,” Stokes said. “I will need to scout a little extra and make sure our scouting reports are accurate and we will have to bring our best every night. The SWCL is a tough basketball conference. I doubt there will be any nights off. So that in its self will be tough.”
Stokes hopes good attitudes lead to big wins.
“I expect my team to be the hardest working team every night, and I expect them to have the best attitudes every night. If they can do that I will be proud of them,” Stokes said. “On top of that, I expect us to compete in every game we play and at the end of the year I expect our wins pile to be bigger than our losses pile.”
Purdy opens the season on Nov. 20 at Ash Grove.
