By Sequoia Hall
Women’s assistant basketball coach, Jack Graves has helped lead the Lane Community College’s team to back-to-back championships narrowly missing out this year on a third this season. The Torch sat down with Graves to discuss his life, coaching style, and philosophy around the game.
Growing up in Spokane, Washington, basketball was ingrained in Jack Graves’ life. His father Kelly Graves was Gonzaga’s women’s basketball coach so he was always around the facilities. Jack said that Mccarthey Athletic Center was like his second home, he would get out of class three blocks away and up until high school and go right there. Being able to hang out around all the amazing players, and listening to the coaches, he was able to foster his love for the game and inspire him to continue.
After completing his high school career at Gonzaga Prep, where he also played basketball, Jack moved to Eugene because Kelly got a job coaching the University of Oregon women’s basketball team.
Jack Graves enrolled at Lane right after high school in 2014 and stayed around basketball as a practice player for some of the best men’s squads Lane has seen. While he continued to learn and develop his knowledge of the game. After two years of playing, current women’s head coach Greg Sheley offered a position as an assistant coach for the team, so he traded in high-tops for a clipboard and began his coaching career.
As a coach Graves emphasizes unselfishness, competitiveness, and helping the players make the most of their opportunities. Having the ability to cater to all the player’s different needs is one of the most challenging of the job. All players are different so finding a way to make them mesh is an opportunity to make sure the athlete’s needs are met. This starts with bringing in the right crop of talent and Graves has been helping on the recruiting trail; his contributions have gone up as his tenure elongates. The Lane staff focuses on bringing in athletes who are “made to be Titans.” Having a competitive mindset, being coachable, and being unselfish are things he looks for when recruiting.
“There is not a lot you can’t accomplish if you get the right players and they are able to embrace the culture of being competitive and being unselfish,” Graves says. When the team is like this you can set the standard as the coach and let the players create the comradery. Graves said that this year’s team was a great example of this where the coaches could be more focused on the on-court product, and the veteran leadership of the sophomores was able to show through. Graves’ philosophy on the X’s and O’s basketball is an offense-first approach; his dad has run a system like that for the majority of his career. Graves has taken some things from that but Sheley’s approach is also one of offense so Graves said he is learning new ways to score every day with his current staff.
Under Sheley, someone who Graves holds in high regard as a boss, coworker, and mentor, the Titans have won three championships with Graveson their staffin 2016, 2023, and 2024. These are things that Graves is very proud of, but he is also proud of all the athletes who have come through this program and go on to play elsewhere after their two years.
One of Graves’s favorite things to do is to turn on a game and watch one of his former players play at a higher level. He cited a game where Sierra Scheppele of Southern Oregon University and Bella Hamel of the University of Oregon actually played each other. “It was great to see them compete against each other, I felt proud for them and that I helped even a little.” That would be the thing that he is most proud of from coaching creating a solid stepping stone for players to build their careers on
Jack Graves has two brothers, Max who began coaching at the same time as him and went on to coach with the Dallas Mavericks, and Will who played for Lane as well as Gonzaga and is now coaching for the Florida Gators. Jack said he always had a good relationship with his brothers and they would always debate sports whether it was the NBA, college hoops, or even the team their dad was coaching. “Having people to always talk basketball with helped my love of the game grow,” he said. Jack and his brother Max started coaching at the same time so being able to bounce ideas off each other was helpful.
There were times for Jack Graves when basketball was not the main focus, his father Kelly Graves focused more on being a father to the boys than a coach. While his father’s style of coaching and philosophy were absorbed by being around him, his team, and the facilities. Jack credits a lot of his coaching knowledge from coaches he had growing up and ones he had the chance to watch do their job like his dad.
Mark Few, coach of the highly successful Gonzaga men’s basketball team, was one of the many people around him from whom Jack took valuable lessons as he grew up. There was also Jack’s Little League coach Brett Bonam; Jodie Barrie, his dad’s assistant who came with him to Oregon; and Lisa Fortier the current Gonzaga women’s coach. Those are all people who impacted his style, philosophy, and attitude toward coaching. Jack Graves said he is grateful for all the opportunities that have come his way but it would not have been so without his hard work, dedication to his craft, and his love for the game.
Jack plans on staying with Lane “as long as they will have me,” he said with a smile. Jack will head to the recruiting trail along with coach Sheley in search of more Titan material. Lane’s season ended with an unfortunate loss on March 16 in the championship game, but they are in good hands and are poised to make a run next year when the season starts in the fall.
