Maloney Follows A Legend at OPRF

By Tim Stablein

Matt Maloney will have some big shoes to fill when he officially takes over as the new varsity boys basketball coach at OPRF once the appointment is approved by the school board. Maloney, unfairly or not, will be compared at the outset to Al Allen, who retired at the end of the 2007-08 season. Allen didn’t have that problem when he took over for an underachieving Bob Parker. A wise person once said, Never be the coach who follows a legend. It’s better to be the coach who replaces the coach who replaced the legend. I think that was first said when John Wooden retired at UCLA. Maloney could look to OPRF baseball coach Chris Ledbetter for some advice on how to follow a legend. Ledbetter took over for long time OPRF coach Jack Kaiser. Ledbetter silenced some critics by placing second in the Class AA state tournament in his first year. Maloney in his first season will be a little short on talent and placing in the state tournament would be a reach.