Tucker steps down

ARLEE - Some may call Clyde Tucker a godfather of coaching.

Tucker has roamed the sidelines of football, basketball and track and field teams for 42 years and is now hanging up his clipboard for good.

This year, Tucker was going for a basketball title to complete his triple crown. He already has a state championship in football in 1981, with a runner-up appearance in 1986, as part of a period of time where Arlee football went 90-9. He earned another title in 1996 for boys track and field when Arlee competed in Class B.

His favorite coaching memory is the title run in 1981.

"It was just a great feeling of accomplishment," he said. "It was just a great feeling."

Tucker was close to the title in the early 1970s, when his basketball team went 23-3 during the season but failed to make the state tournament.

He said he is stepping down this year because the strain of coaching has taken its toll.

"When you're 71, it gets a little hard," he said. "It's a young man's job."

He started coaching in 1961 as an assistant at Chinook and knew he wanted to coach from when he was a little kid. At a young age, Tucker was an active kid, playing football, basketball, track and field and baseball, enjoying football the best.

In 2001, after 40 years of teaching and coaching, Tucker retired for the first time.

"It seemed like it was the right time," he said.

Seven years later, he was asked to return to the hardwood to coach the Arlee boys' basketball team.

"He's still enthusiastic, still enjoys it," Arlee athletic director Jim Taylor said. "He pulls things out of the hat."

But don't be fooled by his age. Arlee senior Kyle Felsman said the 71-year-old can still teach the game just as well as anyone else.

"The old wise man knows his stuff," Felsman said.

Tucker's coaching style has varied through out the years, but Felsman said this year Tucker preached three things as the keys to success.

"It was to win," Felsman said. "We had to play defense, work hard and hustle."

Tucker also preached the importance of playing as a team and not having one individual running the show.

"He always told us ‘don't be hot dogging it,'" junior Jesse Pfau said. "Don't be individual players. Play as a team."

During Arlee's undefeated status earlier in the season, Tucker was aware that rumors stated it might do his team good if they had a loss under their belt. Tucker disagreed.

"He told us ‘it does no good to lose. Don't listen to people. Play to win,'" Felsman said. "He knew we had potential to get to state and do well."

Tucker said his coaching style always depended on the talent he had to work with. This year, for example, had size, so he was able to run half-court schemes.

"I don't know if I've ever coached a team with size before," he said. "But, we also evolved into a team of shooters."

Tucker's success as a coach helped prove him worthy of a place in the Montana Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 1992.

"It was neat," he said. "It's a feeling of accomplishment, that you've been successful in what you do."

Over the years, Tucker said he enjoyed coaching football the most.

"We always had more success," he said.

Taylor was one of Tuckers assistants during the early 1980s, saying Tucker didn't view game film because "it was all stored up top," Taylor said.

With all the free time Tucker will have now, he plans on visiting his grandchildren and spending more time woodworking.

"I've been trying to finish up a project for my wife," he said. "It's been put on hold for the last two years."