The Natural

On Feb. 11, the Cougars were scheduled to play at Monacan, but the head coach came down with the flu the day before, and his availability would not be determined until early afternoon.

 

There was never a thought of postponing the game. The plan was for Charlie McFall to drive the van over to Smoketree Drive, sit at the far end of the bench, and let Fleming, just two years older than his guys, coach the team.

 

There was never a doubt, either, that he was up to the task. He’d earned the respect of the players, and his grasp of the X’s and O’s was solid enough that all involved knew he would manage just fine.

 

Turns out Fleming’s debut had to wait. The head coach recovered in time and, though hardly 100 percent, did the honors to the tune of a 40-24 defeat, one of many L’s the Cougars suffered that winter.

 

The point was made, though. Fleming could coach, and he could coach well, as he has proven time and again in several sports during his 37 years in education, the last 35 of which he’s spent at his alma mater.

 

This past Feb. 26, the day before the Collegiate’s girls varsity basketball team took on Flint Hill in the VISAA tournament, Fleming, who’s headed the girls hoops program for 27 years, conducted practice on the Steve Hickman Court.

 

As the girls game has evolved over almost three decades, he’s evolved as well, teaching his athletes to play at a quicker, faster pace while relying heavily on intentional, aggressively played defense, focusing on cohesive team play and fundamentals, and spreading the coaching wealth among numerous talented assistants.

 

What no one else knew as they finished their final tune-up that afternoon was that Fleming would be stepping down as head coach and program leader after the season.

 

“It’s something I’d been thinking about for a while,” he said one day recently. “It just felt like the right time.”

 

That last practice, then, was bittersweet.

 

“I was looking around the gym, seeing kids working hard, seeing them getting better,” he said. “To me, that’s always been the fun: watching kids be as good as they can be.”

 

During his tenure, Fleming’s teams have amassed a 320-260 record, but to judge his success and impact just by numbers is a disservice to him and the program to which he’s given heart and soul.

 

“Rives has the ability to coach in the moment and also shift from a 10-year-old to an 18-year-old, sometimes on the same day,” said Andrew Stanley, Collegiate’s Director of Athletics, referencing the fact that Fleming teaches 5th graders, directs summer camps for kids of all ages, and also coaches JV cross country and softball. “To have somebody with the skillset, temperament, desire, commitment, nuance, grace to be able to do that and year after year have the high school team in a position to be competitive is really special.

 

“Rives showed up here in his 20s and just kept going. He’s an incredibly accessible person who doesn’t realize how special what he’s doing is. For those willing to stand back and watch Rives do what he has done for so long, you realize the intentional teaching that’s going on — whether it’s a camp with first graders or a varsity practice.

 

“Not everybody can be effective with all those age groups and handle the increased pressure of the changing times and expectations. Rives will go down as one of the most influential teacher/coaches this school has had in the last 30 years because of his willingness to coach at different levels in different sports and ability to do it so well.”

 

So what was the genesis of Fleming’s coaching career?

 

“I grew up as a sports fan,” he said. “I loved everything about sports. I kept a little handwritten Cincinnati Reds stat line. Watched UVA basketball and football. I always loved being around sports and playing them.”

 

Sometime during his two seasons as a student assistant, a Collegiate coach who had observed him in action commented, “Rives, if you ever wanted to teach and coach, I think you’d be pretty good at it.”

 

Prescient? Hardly. His talent, aptitude, and dedication to excellence were obvious.

 

“I was not vertically gifted,” he said with a laugh. “When I turned 16, I was 4-11, 90 pounds. That was on my driver’s license. I wasn’t a great athlete, particularly in basketball, but I ran cross country and played several different spring sports. I wasn’t built for basketball, but I loved the sport.”

 

When he headed off to the University of Virginia, he’d narrowed his career choices to teaching and architecture.

 

“At some point,” he said, “I think I realized that I enjoyed the school environment and saw the impact teachers and coaches could have on people, and I saw it as a great life.”

 

At Collegiate, he coached Cub and JV boys basketball before assuming leadership of the girls program in 1997.

 

“Basketball has always appealed to me because I love the teamwork,” he said. “Also, the fact that it’s a fast sport and you’re moving so quickly offensively and defensively. It’s just a beautiful game that way.”

 

There’s also the problem-solving element and the opportunity to play to athletes’ strengths and put them in the best position to succeed.

 

“I have a philosophy of how I think basketball should be played, but you have to be flexible and adjust based on what you have,” he said. “The X’s and O’s really appeal to me. I like being able to look at our team and figure out what’s going to work well and what probably isn’t and who we want to get the ball to more, so we have to think of ways to do that. That’s what I always found myself thinking about in the offseason.”

 

Throughout his tenure, the Cougars have relied heavily on man-to-man defense.

 

“To me, it’s the best defense if you can play it because you’re not giving up easy shots,” he said. “A good team against a zone is going to get an easy shot at some point. Man-to-man allows you to put pressure on people. It defines everybody’s responsibilities and allows them to have a specific role. It definitely requires great teamwork.”

 

Fleming has always surrounded himself with a strong, knowledgeable staff. This year’s crew includes Kevin Coffey, who coached the girls varsity team at Thomas Dale, Hannah Curley, who played for Coffey in high school, and Michele Cosel, who led Atlee to an undefeated season and VHSL state championship in 2003 and later played for VCU and professionally overseas.

 

“You’re always learning, and I’ve learned a lot of basketball from them,” Fleming said. “All of us have our roles, but we bounce ideas off each other all the time. We push each other, challenge each other in a good way, and make each other think. It makes my job easier to work with people I totally trust.”

 

In all his years, Fleming was never assessed a technical foul.

 

“It’s important to maintain calm from a strategic standpoint, but I think it’s just my personality,” he said. “I tend to be more even keeled and less reactive. I’m able to keep my composure. To me, it’s [a] cerebral [exercise]. If you’re going down the emotional road, chances are you’re not thinking about how to fix the situation at the same time.”

 

Now that his 27-year run has concluded, how would he like to be remembered by the athletes whose paths have crossed his?

 

“I hope they would think they became good teammates and learned to compete and play basketball to the best of their ability,” he said. “I hope they think of me as a coach who helped them have a great experience and really cared about them.”

~Weldon Bradshaw