THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE: The buzz around Post Falls High’s new girls basketball coach

Mike Divilbiss says he’s learned from his past. 

The hundreds of wins. 

The defense that he witnessed during his coaching stops, then tweaked to match his style of play, a defense which has proven wildly successful. 

The players who complained about him at a couple of stops in college, which made the news. 

All lessons he hopes to implement in his latest gig, as Post Falls High girls basketball coach. 

It was a job he said he and Craig Christensen, the Post Falls athletic director, had discussed previously, but “I just wasn’t comfortable yet,” Divilbiss said. 

But this time seemed like the right time.  

Why? 

“I just think there’s been more time passed. I’m in a different place,” said Divilbiss, 65. “I just think priorities change in your life, and what’s important changes, for the better. I hope that I’ve learned a great deal, and grown a great deal in my 65 years of life. 

"One of the things I think I’ve realized, being out of college coaching for a while, what it takes to be successful coaching is such a tremendous singular focus, that many other things just get ignored, that shouldn’t be ignored,” he added. “I think coaching at that level, it just requires so much of you, and it’s very challenging, and things that should be a priority can’t be, or you’re not going to be successful. I think I’ve started to realize that, as I’ve grown, and I think this situation here is much different than that.” 

DIVILBISS GOT to know Christensen when both were administrators in the Inland Empire League — Divilbiss was AD at Lakeland for three years (2018-21).  

“I knew his background,” Christensen said. “When I was coaching my daughter’s AAU team, I watched his DVD on the Buzz (defense), so I knew a little bit about his coaching beforehand. We’re pretty happy that we got someone of his caliber; he’s probably one of the best coaches in the Pacific Northwest. 

“I’m sure he’ll bring the Buzz to our program.”

Divilbiss has been working with the Post Falls players this summer, in open gyms, and at the Gonzaga Team Camp. 

“When I started with the kids, I told them, this is going to be fun,” he said. “Trust me ... and you have permission to raise your hand — ‘Coach, not fun anymore.’ I want to know that. Because that’s the whole goal of this ... it’s called “play basketball.” It’s not “work basketball”, it’s “play basketball.” And I want it to be fun, and I want them to enjoy themselves, and part of that enjoyment is leaving everything you have, and investing everything you have in a cause that’s bigger than you.  

“The three things I said to the kids — No. 1, I want it to be fun. No. 2, keep an open mind, be willing to learn. No. 3, try hard. And the kids have been absolutely awesome. It’s been a really fun summer with them.” 

AFTER STARTING his women’s college basketball coaching career at Eastern Washington as a graduate assistant for two seasons, Divilbiss became head coach at Lewis-Clark State for 14 seasons, then at Idaho for seven as head coach. Then it was four years as an assistant at Green Bay, and three more as an assistant at Illinois. 

“I told this to Craig and the interview committee,” Divilbiss said. “I coached in five different places, and was an AD at another. And in every single place, but one (EWU), I was asked to change a culture in a program that had been awful. Well, when you’re asked to change a culture, it’s like the guy said in ‘Moneyball,’ ‘Hey, the first guy through the wall always gets bloody.’ Well, are you willing as a leader to be the first guy through the wall? And I’ve always been willing to do that. Because I think it’s best for the kids, and the people that I’m leading. And I’ve always believed that.  

“And in our generation right now, I think those people that are willing to go get bloody, and go through the wall, they get attacked,” he added. “Those kind of people get attacked now. Because you’re asking people to do things that are uncomfortable. And when you ask people to do things that are uncomfortable, they don’t handle that well anymore. They don’t handle that as well as they used to in life. This isn’t just in basketball; this is in life. And I think, when they get uncomfortable, and they get stretched, they lash out, and they lie, and they cover up their ability to be uncomfortable.” 

Asked if he rubbed some people the wrong way during those stops, Divilbiss replied, “absolutely. And I was pretty successful doing that.” 

He took LC State to the NAIA tournament each of his last six seasons in Lewiston (1987-2001), starting with the program’s first berth to nationals in 1996. He was 310-122 with the Warriors, including records of 28-2 and 33-4 in his final two seasons. 

Divilbiss had Idaho within a game of the NCAA tournament twice, and was 82-119 in his seven seasons in Moscow. 

At Illinois, players came forward and accused Divilbiss and the Ilini head coach of racism, a charge from which both were eventually cleared. 

Divilbiss’ response? 

“Lies. None of it’s true. Three inquiries said none of it’s true.” 

Some players also described Divilbiss’ coaching methods as harsh, similar to complaints he received while at Idaho. 

At Illinois, it was reported Divilbiss and the school “had agreed to part ways” after three seasons. 

“We vetted him,” Christensen said. “The situations that happened, in Illinois, they hired a law firm to investigate it and they came back and said all of the allegations are false. He was cleared of everything.” 

“But nobody wants to talk about that,” Divilbiss said. “They want to talk about all the lies because people were being asked to be uncomfortable. For every kid that’s complained, or had a negative thing to say, you’ll find 10 that’ll tell you the opposite. Because they were willing to give, were willing to invest in their teammates in something that’s bigger than them. All I know is, in my situation ... people talked to people they wanted to talk to to promote their agenda.” 

DIVILBISS, FROM Illinois, played basketball at NCAA Division II Winona (Minn.) State. After college he was an assistant high school basketball coach for three seasons in the Winona area — one year with the girls, two with the boys. 

His family moved to Spokane when he was in college. While out here for his sister’s wedding, he saw a want ad in the local paper — Eastern Washington University women’s basketball coach Bill Smithpeters was looking for an assistant coach. 

Divilbiss met with Smithpeters, who was also from Illinois, and that led to two years on the Eagles’ coaching staff as a grad assistant. In 1987, Year 2, the Eags made it to the NCAA tournament for the first time. 

He then was hired as head coach at LC State. 

From grad assistant to head coach? 

“LC State wasn’t what it was 14 years later when I left,” Divilbiss said. “There weren’t too many people that wanted that job.” 

After he was hired in Lewiston, Divilbiss said he made it a point to thank the coaches for the knowledge he gained along the way, for helping him get a head coaching job — Smithpeters, Jerry Krause, Don Meyer, Fred Litzenberger, among others. 

“Each of them said, 'Make sure you share it,’” Divilbiss said of that knowledge. 

IT WAS while Divilbiss was at Eastern that he was first witnessed the Buzz defense — basically, a trapping 2-3 zone. 

Oregon State’s women ran it, but trapped only inside the 3-point line, he said.  

He played against other teams that were running the buzz — some putting more pressure in the half-court, rather than just inside the 3-point arc. 

After a few seasons of losing to teams running the Buzz — including Oklahoma City in the second round of the NAIA national tournament — Divilbiss came to a realization. 

“I’m tired of losing to this thing,” he said. “I’m uncomfortable playing against it. I don’t like it.” 

So he did what many successful coaches do when they struggle against something thrown at them by another team — they try it themselves. 

He reached out to a coach who ran the Buzz. 

“Teach me this,” he said. 

The coach sent him three faxes illustrating the defense. 

“And I’m like, ‘OK, this is like the ‘Fresno Matchup’ (run by Boyd Grant at Fresno State), but we’re not putting enough pressure on the ball. I don’t like it.’ 

“So I sit on it for a year. 

“Again, we lose to Oklahoma City in the Elite 8, and now I’m not happy at all,” Divilbiss said. 

So he puts in the Buzz defense the following year, with his own twist. 

“We’re way more aggressive than everybody else who runs it,” Divilbiss said. “We pick it up higher, we trap it harder, we’re just flying around. We’re a lot more disruptive. And we go 26-0 and we’re the No. 1-ranked team in the country (in NAIA), the first year I put it in. 

“But we weren’t as good a team in February as we were in December, because I realized I couldn’t get them to play man-to-man anymore. Because every time we started to (struggle in man-to-man) ... they didn’t want to play man-to-man, they knew I’d go to the Buzz. And you didn’t have to work as hard in the Buzz ... so eventually we got beat on a half-court shot at the buzzer, to a team we already beat twice by 20.” 

The success with the Buzz continued for Divilbiss at Idaho, where the Vandals twice played for the Big West championship.  

Ditto for Wisconsin-Green Bay, which went to the NCAAs all four years Divilbiss was there. 

“All those wins were due to the Buzz,” Divilbiss said. “There’s still a lot of people who reach out (for information on the Buzz). We had a lot of success with it at a pretty high level. A lot more pressure, a lot more disruptiveness ... and with smaller kids.” 

So will he use the Buzz at Post Falls? 

“Who knows?” he said with a laugh. “I also like man-to-man defense an awful lot.” 

AFTER LEAVING Illinois, Divilbiss returned to the Inland Northwest, where he was an assistant coach in the North Idaho College women's basketball program under Chris and Carey Carlson in 2017-18, then was hired as AD at Lakeland High. 

He was at Lakeland three years, and when he left, neither he nor Lakeland School District officials would say why. 

Even now, Divilbiss said he’d rather not get into it, other than to say, “It wasn’t me being too hard on them; it was me asking for change that people didn’t want to make.” 

After Lakeland, Divilbiss was hired to coach in Hungary, under three 10-month contracts. But when money issues arose, Divilbiss was sent home, shortly after he left. 

These days, he works as a consultant — basically, coaching college coaches on how to recruit today’s student-athletes. 

Divilbiss said he’ll still work as a consultant — “That’s my real job” — while he coaches the Post Falls girls.  

SO, IS Divilbiss a kinder, gentler coach these days? 

“I will say, this group of kids has just been tremendous,” he said. “They love to learn ... some of it is, I have to learn what the right amount of, 'What’s OK from a comfortable standpoint?’ And I’m way better than I used to be with that.” 

Divilbiss said “I don’t think there’s any question” he’s a different coach from his days at LC State, at Idaho, at Green Bay, at Illinois ... 

"I told the kids and their parents already: I don’t care how much we win. And I love to win as much as anybody you know. But I’m not coming back to coach to win basketball games. I’m coming back to coaching because I love being in the gym. I love using the game to teach life skills ... grit, perseverance, teamwork, cooperation, those types of things you can only teach in a team setting. I love that environment, and that’s why I’m coming back. I’m not coming back to win more games.” 

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 208-664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at mnelke@cdapress.com. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @CdAPressSports.