NIC BASKETBALL: Back to where it started

For at least a few hours this week, Jared Phay won't get to feel at home.

Same gymnasium, but different bench.

Same city he'd grown up around and coached in for 12 years, but being relegated to staying in a hotel, instead of his own home.

Homecomings are normally reserved for football, but an exception might be made when Phay brings the third-ranked College of Southern Idaho men's basketball team into Coeur d'Alene to take on North Idaho College on Saturday. Tipoff is scheduled for 5 p.m., following a 3 p.m. women's game between the two schools.

"It's kind of surreal, the thought of it," said Phay, 38, who returns to NIC this weekend to face the Cardinals for the first time since leaving after 10 years as head coach for CSI in May. "I'm excited for it. Hopefully I won't tell our guys to shoot at the wrong basket. It will be fun to get back there."

And for the first time in quite a while, the former Post Falls Christian coach won't be made to feel at home in his own hometown.

"It's kind of weird being in Coeur d'Alene like a guest and not at home," Phay said. "We're staying in a hotel, which I hardly have had to do in the past. We're practicing there (at Rolly Williams Court) on Friday, but I think once the game starts, I'll just go into a zone and not think about it."

Phay was the head coach at NIC for 10 seasons, winning the Scenic West Athletic Conference titles in 2006, 2009 and 2010. He was named conference coach of the year three different times and his 2010-11 team was the first in school history to reach a No. 1 ranking in the NJCAA polls.

Phay was an assistant under Hugh Watson at NIC prior to being named head coach and also was an assistant at Motlow State in Lynchburg, Tenn., and a graduate assistant at Idaho.

NIC and CSI already played each other once this season - in the Scenic West Athletic Conference opener in Twin Falls on Dec. 13, when Phay's Golden Eagles beat first-year NIC head coach - and Phay's longtime assistant - Corey Symons and the Cardinals 78-64.

"That was the scariest one for us," said Jared's mom, Jeanne Phay, who attended the game in Twin Falls. "We went to Corey's wedding and knew him as a kid. The good thing about the two of them is that their friendship was so strong. It was good to get that one out of the way."

Jared Phay has kept a close eye on NIC this year, watching some of those players that he recruited as high school seniors start to shine.

"Corey's got a good group of kids there," Jared said. "I've coached and recruited a few of them, but when they play us, we want to win. Guys like Jordan (King), Jamaal (Robateau) and Kyle Guice, I've been really impressed with Kyle. He's gotten muscular and it's really good to see a local kid doing well."

But when that game gets started, then it's just basketball for the next two hours.

"It will be fun," Jared said. "Friday, just getting there and seeing some of the fans, Corey, Al (Williams), Patty (Stewart) and the rest of the old crew, that will be nice. Once the game starts, we're trying to win. I really root for NIC, except for when they're playing us."

"I think Jared's excited to come up here," Jeanne Phay said. "He was at NIC for 12 years, grew up here and I think that gym is going to be packed. Everywhere I go, people are talking about going to the game. He's excited to come back here. He's got some many ties to the area and never would have taken that job if the family didn't like it in Twin Falls. The kids love it, his wife found a job almost immediately, and they've got a nice house."

In his time at NIC, Phay went 221-94. Phay won at least 20 games in eight of his 10 years.

"I'd be disappointed if I didn't get booed by somebody," Phay said. "I've got a lot of friends and family that are going to be there, and I'd think that most of the people in the crowd would be rooting for NIC. I think it will be a mixed crowd, but a fun night."

Phay has not lost since leaving NIC. CSI enters the game 20-0, 5-0 in conference play. NIC is 15-4, 2-3.

"Taking over a new program in a new place, I almost feel rejuvenated," Phay said. "It's a new challenge, so I feel some more excitement as a coach, and I think we're able to be a little more picky with who we bring in here."

"Jared does things the right way," Jeanne Phay said. "His heart is in the right place. He loves his kids and keeps up with some of them that played at NIC up to 10 years ago. It's about relationships, not who won or lost, but how you make them feel. It's about how you treat people."