Hall of Fame twice as nice for Gaines

Few coaches ever have the honor of being inducted into one hall of fame in their lifetime.
Brad Gaines now knows what it’s like to be in two.
Gaines, the former Oak Grove head football and girls basketball coach, was recently inducted into the Greater Kansas City Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame.
In 2000, Gaines was inducted into the Missouri Football Coaches Association’s Hall of Fame.
“It makes me feel good that my peers think that much of my coaching career and my accomplishments,” Gaines said. “A lot of us older coaches base a lot of our success by how our peers look at us. It was very humbling.”
Longtime Kearney girls basketball coach Herb Webster called Gaines to say he was nominating the former Panthers coach. He later called and said Gaines was elected.
“He said it was unanimous,” Gaines said. “That was a great night (when I was inducted). It was good to see some old coaches and also some younger coaches and said things I would never change and things I would do differently.”
In his speech, Gaines said one of his highlights of his career was finally getting into the Blue Springs Tournament against larger schools. The seeding even put Blue Springs and Oak Grove against each other in the first round – despite the two teams having the best two records in the field.
“Blue Springs won that evening, but Oak Grove won in the end,” Gaines said in his speech.
Two years later – 1990 – Gaines and Oak Grove went undefeated, winning not only the Blue Springs Tournament title, but also winning a Class 3A state title, the school’s first and only state title in girls basketball.
“We beat all the big schools,” Gaines said. “We went into the Blue Springs Tournament and won it. We beat Lee’s Summit, who I believe finished second or third in Class 4A. About the only school we didn’t have the opportunity to beat was St. Joseph’s Academy on the St. Louis side. I think they won 4A. But we were one of the best basketball teams in the state, (regardless) of class.”
Under Gaines’ leadership with their trademark full-court press and fastbreak offense, the Panthers program became one of the most dominating teams in the conference and in the state. Gaines had a 401-170 record during his career at Oak Grove, spanning from 1981-2002. During that time, he went undefeated in Missouri River Valley Conference play from 1987 to 1994 – a span of 56 consecutive conference wins, not counting the MRVC Tournament games. He finished with 13 conference titles, seven district titles, five quarterfinal berths, two semifinal berths and a state title.
One thing Gaines said he would do differently is make more time for his family.
“I would never change my dedication to the young people I had the privilege to coach,” Gaines said in his speech. “But if I could go back and change one thing in my career, I would find a way to never cheat my own family out of time I should have shared with them.”
As to which hall of fame is a bigger honor, Gaines said he couldn’t choose.
“There’s no difference,” he said. “
In 2002, Gaines was suspended and later relieved of his coaching duties after a verbal confrontation with a player. The school board voted not to allow Gaines to return as girls basketball coach, though he remained as a teacher and head football coach. The parents of that player brought a civil lawsuit against Gaines that was later dismissed by a federal judge.
Gaines remained as head football coach until last May, when the school board voted not to renew his extra duty contract following a verbal confrontation with a school board member.
Last year, Gaines served as an assistant coach under Bruce Young at Avila University.
“It’s been a fun experience,” Gaines said. “I’m coaching with people who I respect highly and I feel like they respect me, not just as a coach but as a friend. It’s a lot of fun.
“Coaching college athletes is no different than coaching high school athletes. They still care about winning. Most of them are there to learn. It’s a lot of fun.”
However, from Gaines’ speech, one can tell he still wishes to be a head coach at the high school level for either football or basketball.
“Again, thank you all for this great honor,” he said. “And if anyone knows of someone looking for an old basketball coach still filled with a passion to win, give me a call.”