November 11, 2008 --
Austin head coach Mike Deaton (right) posed with varsity assistant Rick Rigel on photo day this week at Rigel Gym. The 2 men have a basketball relationship that goes back 43 years.
During the 1965-66 Austin school year Mike Deaton and Rick Rigel joined forces for the first time. Deaton an 8th grader and Rigel just a 7th grader played basketball together on the 8th grade team. That was a long time ago, Jim Whitaker was the Austin varsity coach and his star players were Jimmie Robison and Joie Bukowski. Adolph Rupp was the still the coach at Kentucky and Bob Knight was 6 years away from coaching his first game at IU.
4-years later Deaton and Rigel were starters, on one of Austin’s best teams in the history of the program. During the 1969-70 season the Eagles won the Jefferson County Holiday tourney, winning 3 games to do so. Only 3 Austin teams have won a holiday tourney since, 1976, 1978 and 1979, but none of those teams had to win 3 games to claim the title. That season the Eagles beat Floyd Central 71-65, a win that still ranks as one of the greatest regular season wins in the history of Austin basketball. At one time the Eagles were 9 & 3 that season, before Mike Sexton their leading scorer suffered a serious ankle injury; the Eagles finished 12 & 11.
While Sexton was the leading scorer, Deaton and Rigel contributed heavily to basketball record books. When Deaton graduated he was the school’s all-time assists and steals leader, his 79 steals that season still ranks as the highest single season mark. That year Rigel averaged 13.9 rebounds a game with a high of 26 against Moores Hill. When he graduated in 1971 he was Austin’s 3rd all-time leading rebounder with 726, behind only Charlie Brandenburg and Jimmie Robison.
After high school the 2-men attend the same college, Cumberland College in Williamsburg Kentucky. After college they returned to Austin, and to basketball. Deaton as a highly successful middle school boys coach, while Rigel agreed to coach Austin’s first girls basketball team, just to get the program started and just until a permanent coach could be found.
Rigel’s temporary status lasted 9-seasons from 1976-85. In those seasons Austin became a girls basketball power in Indiana. Rick’s 1985 team went to the final-four and his career record is simply amazing, 147 wins with just 26 defeats. He coached 2 regular season undefeated teams, 3 Indiana All-Stars, a Miss Basketball, and won 3 regional championships. Rick Rigel was headed to the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame, but then he walked away from it all, retiring from coaching at age 32, burnt out he needed a break.
When Rigel resigned one of his former star players followed him, Lisa Goodin became the Lady Eagles coach, but resigned after one season and accepted a head coaching job at a high school in Kentucky. Then something happened that no one expected, Mike Deaton the boys middle school coach wanted to be head coach of the Lady Eagles, and was given the job for the 1986-87 season. Deaton remained in the position for 12 years, winning 130 games. During that time Austin became the first school in Indiana girls basketball, to have 2 coaches win 100 games, Deaton and Rigel. A lot of people don’t realize this but; both coaches had an amazing 7 consecutive winning seasons at one point during their tenures. To put that in perspective the boys program which started in 1914, has never recorded 7 consecutive winning seasons.
While Deaton was coaching the girls from 1986-1998, Rigel’s passion for the game returned. He agreed to several positions in the boys program, from elementary coach, to freshman coach to varsity assistant. Whenever old friends encouraged him to apply for the varsity boys job, the answer was always the same, no.
In 2003 the school board honored one of Austin’s finest treasures, Harold Rigel, Rick’s father. The boys gymnasium built in 1958 was officially named Harold Rigel Gymnasium. On the night of the ceremony, Rick wheeled his father to mid court in a wheel chair where Austin athletic director Mike Deaton stood and congratulated Mr. Rigel. There they were again Mike Deaton and Rick Rigel on the basketball court together, where it all started in 1965.
When Scott Matthews was dismissed in 2004 as the boys head coach, Rigel tied to persuade Deaton to apply for the job. He even told Mike he would help him, if he got the job, but Deaton was not interested. Eventually Ron Hawn was hired, but he too was dismissed in 2007 after winning just 9 games in his last 2 seasons. Rigel went to Deaton again, and told him again, that if he applied and got the job he would help him. This time Mike applied and was offered the job, once he accepted he immediately offered Rigel a position on his staff.
1965 was a long time ago, but that is when it started, this special relationship. Now both men want to share in getting the program back to where Austin fans expect it to be, back to winning. Both understand the urgency and are ready to put last season’s 5 & 16 record behind them. One thing is for sure, the program is in good hands. Deaton has assembled a coaching staff that understands basketball and winning. It’s a good story filled with great memories, but after 43 years the book is still being written.
