PORT ANGELES — Kasey Ulin was hired to take over the Port Angeles boys basketball team less than two weeks before the season started.
Ulin said that small amount of time to prepare won’t mean much when practices begin Monday.
“Like I told the kids Wednesday [at a team meeting], we have talent, we have pieces we need to be successful,” Ulin said.
“We’re going to be successful. No more excuses about the coach coming in late or about the seniors we lost [from last year’s team].”
And, he said, this all starts with him.
“Leading by example is everything. Win or lose, you’re not going to hear me say, ‘Well, I came in late,’” Ulin said.
“That door’s shut, we’re going forward.
“Mentally we have to be positive, we have to be proactive.”
Being hired so late in the process hasn’t put Ulin in scramble mode — he’s been there for several months now.
He and his wife, Bracey, decided to end their professional basketball careers earlier this year — they both played for teams in the Sparta Bertrange organization in Luxembourg — and return to live in the United States.
“Physically, I feel probably better than I ever have,” Ulin said.
“We were ready to be home and put roots in the ground.”
Retirement? That’s when things got crazy.
The couple bought a house in Port Angeles and Ulin took a job as a youth coordinator for the Quileute tribe in LaPush.
Oh, and Bracey Ulin was pregnant.
When they were playing overseas, the Ulins would spend half of their offseasons in Washington — Kasey is a 2000 graduate of Forks High School — and the other half in Bracey’s home state of Maine.
Kasey’s new job kept him on the North Olympic Peninsula this summer, but the doctors said Bracey could to travel to Maine.
The baby wasn’t due for more than two months, everything would be fine.
Then one night in late June, Bracey phoned Kasey and said she was in labor, 10 weeks before the baby was due.
Kasey booked the soonest flight he could from Seattle to Maine.
“I’ve never felt so helpless in my life,” Kasey said.
But things worked out. Their baby daughter spent weeks in the hospital, and Kasey said, “There is not one thing wrong with her now.”
Overall, things have been working out pretty well for the Ulins since they decided to leave professional basketball behind.
They had a job, a house, a baby daughter, and Bracey is planning to attend the nursing program at Peninsula College.
With so much going on, Kasey Ulin didn’t know if he would have time to coach a high school basketball team when he first heard about the Port Angeles job opening.
But friends and acquaintances kept prodding him to apply.
And, once again, the pieces fell together.
“I have to thank the Quileute tribe to allowing me to have a flexible schedule,” Ulin said.
“And Bracey, she’s the strongest person I know, she was supportive and on board.
“And Port Angeles and [athletic director] Mr. [Dwayne] Johnson for allowing us to have evening practices.”
Ulin has quite the basketball resume.
He holds Forks High School’s all-time scoring record with 1,587 points.
Ulin played for Scott Justus, who Ulin credits with being one of the reasons he got into coaching, at Forks. One of his teammates was his best friend and current Forks head coach Rick Gooding.
Gooding also saw Ulin play in college and went to Luxembourg to watch him last season.
“He’s everything, man,” Gooding said of Ulin’s on-court skills.
“I’ve seen a lot of basketball players . . . he is by far the best well-rounded offensive basketball player I’ve seen in my life.
“He can shoot, he can dribble, he’s like a one-man press break.”
After high school, Ulin went on to play at Yakima Valley Community College for two years, followed by one year at Central Washington University before transferring to Dickinson State in North Dakota for his senior season.
In his one year at Dickinson, he led Division II in scoring with 27.9 points per game.
Ulin then went overseas, starting in Germany and then Luxembourg.
“He’s definitely knowledgeable. If anyone knows about the game of basketball, it’s going to be him,” Gooding said.
“He loves basketball, he knows a ton about basketball and he loves working with kids.
“He’s going to do great. He’s one of those guys that does great at pretty much everything he puts his mind to; just a natural in just about everything.”
At Port Angeles, Ulin takes over a team that went 12-11 last season under Brent Stephens.
This is Ulin’s first time running a high school basketball program, but he has plenty of coaching experience.
“Part of your contract is to play and coach [youth teams],” Ulin said of playing overseas.
“It’s great because if you want to get coaching, you get a ton of experience.”
Ulin still needs to get to know his new players and their skills — he did coach Forks against some of them in the Peninsula College fall league a few weeks ago — but he already has a clear vision for the Roughriders.
“This program, we’re going to try to change the mindset,” he said.
“We’re going to focus on character building and life lessons. One thing we’re going to harp on is doing the right thing when nobody’s looking. Combine that with blue-collar hard work.
“School is No. 1, sports are second. We’re going to take pride in everything.”
Asked about his coaching philosophy, Ulin, though known for his scoring prowess, starts with defense.
“That’s where were going to hang out hats,” he said.
“When teams play Port Angeles, they’ll know they’re going to be in for a dog fight.
“We’re going to be diving for loose balls, we’ll be scrappy and tough. We’ll be the team that is more aggressive, we’re going to wear teams down.”
The Riders will run a motion offense with a few set plays.
“Offensively, you’ve got to see the talent and the kids that you have,” Ulin said.
“Well run a motion-style offense. We’re going to teach the kids how to play, how to make a pass, set a pick. We’re going to create that foundation of fundamentals.”
Ulin said his team will be hard working, but they’ll also have fun and be fun to watch.
“The kids are going to be in shape, play together and make the community proud,” he said.
“I told them Wednesday: ‘You guys got to enjoy this. You guys are so frickin’ lucky. There is nothing better than high school basketball and high school sports.
“’When you guys are working hard and having fun, sooner or later that gym’s going to be full [of fans].’”
And, perhaps most important, Ulin plans to bring stability to a program that has had a revolving door of coaches recently.
Port Angeles is now home.
“We’re not going anywhere. We love it here,” Ulin said. “We’ve been gone a long time. We like it here, we like the community.
“I foresee us being here for awhile.”
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Sports Editor Lee Horton can be reached at 360-417-3525 or at lhorton@peninsuladailynews.com.
