By Aaron Allen, The Seattle Medium
In the heart of South Seattle, a figure looms almost as influential as any parent – the coach. For the Black community, where athletic prowess is often a source of pride and a pathway to success, coaches are not just sports trainers; they are architects of character, discipline, and success. Among these influential figures is Mike Bethea, the head coach of Rainier Beach High School’s varsity men’s basketball team, who has spent over 30 years shaping the lives of young people.
Mike Bethea’s journey is one of remarkable dedication and achievement. Balancing a successful 45-year career at Boeing with his coaching responsibilities, Bethea has proven his commitment to both his professional and coaching roles. As a naturally talented athlete himself, his transition to coaching was almost predestined.
Bethea’s résumé speaks for itself. He has amassed 16 Metro League titles, 15 district championships, and nine state championships. In addition, his two most noteworthy teams – the 2003 team ranked number one in the country, and his 2014 team ranked number two in the country – are still the standard for what other programs in the area strive for.
Despite his success, coaching in the eyes of Bethea is far from just the wins and losses. For Bethea, molding young men is the challenge and gratitude that he accepts and receives from his efforts as a coach, as the game is merely a conduit used to transform young boys into young men.
“I am family first, and I am about my community,” says Bethea. “This is not about winning championships, it is not about the wins and losses, it is about preparing these young men to go out into the world and deal with everyday life. Becoming young men. You get them as immature boys, and it is up to me and my staff to help them become well-rounded individuals, men that can go out and do something positive with their lives.”
Bethea describes his coaching journey by the talent he receives each year. As his teams acquire incoming talent, Bethea then assesses just how far any particular team will go into the playoffs each season.
“I actually started coaching at Rainier Beach in 1992 as an assistant with Francis Williams, and in 1994 I took over the program,” Bethea reflects. “We went through some growing pains, and in 1998, Jamal Crawford transferred in, and we had a pretty good team and won a state title then.”
“The next year, Crawford’s senior year, we came up short, but the next year Nate Robinson enrolled at Rainier Beach, and as a freshman and starter, he too became the launching pad to where we are now,” continued Bethea. “I’ve been blessed to never have a losing season in 30 years of coaching.”
Robert Delgardo, who coached with Bethea for 23 years, witnessed the growth of the team’s legacy and understood exactly what it takes to maintain a winning program.
“The reason [the program was successful] is that a lot of players understood that our system, the way we ran it, was like the next level – the college level,” says Delgardo. “The way we dress, the way we carry ourselves, the confidence, the message to other coaches and schools, I think that intrigues kids to understand that not only do we present ourselves well, we play well and we win well.”
“So, we set the tone, and all of those things play a big part when you talk about special teams,” added Delgardo. “That is why we always had at least four to five D1 players on our team every year for the 23 years that I was there.”
The 2024 season is a testament to Bethea’s coaching acumen and the team’s resilience. Heavy with underclassmen on their roster, the Vikings embarked on an exhilarating journey through the SeaKing District tournament last week. Their campaign began with an impressive 21-point victory over Mercer Island. That momentum carried them into a showdown with the O’Dea Fighting Irish, the regular season Metro League champions, where they secured a hard-fought 55-51 victory. Despite their remarkable run, the team faced a setback in the semifinals against West Seattle, succumbing with a close score of 57-51. However, their earlier triumph over O’Dea ensured their spot in the state tournament, which is a significant achievement for a young team.
“The rollercoaster ride continues with this team,” says Bethea. “We are a young team trying to come together, but it is difficult. We played a great game against O’Dea and knocked them off, only to lose to West Seattle the next game. Again, dealing with young men, you don’t know what you are going to get from day to day. And that has been the challenge all year.”
“You have to get the kids to understand that it is one game at a time,” continued Bethea. “You can’t look ahead. Sometimes you can prep them as a coach, but they can’t help but look ahead, and that’s when you set yourself up for unexpected losses like the one against West Seattle.”
At the beginning and end of the day, Bethea’s philosophy centers around hard work, a value he instills relentlessly in his players. He often cites Kevin Durant’s famous quote, “Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard,” to emphasize the importance of effort over innate ability. His coaching ethos is encapsulated in what he calls the four “ins.”
“The motto I live by I call the four ‘ins.’ Believe in, Trust in, Buy in, and All in,” says Bethea. “The biggest challenge with this team was getting them to trust in, getting them to believe in, getting them to buy in, and those are the everyday things like getting to class on time, getting to practice on time, giving a hundred percent effort.”
“Eighty to ninety percent of the game is psychological,” says Delgardo. “You have to be able to be coachable. The other thing is hard work will always outdo talent. So, if you can play well together with less talent, you’ll be more successful.”
One of the biggest challenges Bethea has faced with this team is getting them to play hard for the 32 minutes, which can not only be a point of frustration but also a learning lesson that his players will hopefully learn from as they progress through the season and in life.
“You can’t play hard for 24 minutes and then take the rest of the night off; that’s been the reason we’ve lost some of the games we’ve lost,” says Bethea.
Beyond the court, Bethea’s role as a mentor and community leader is equally significant. He is acutely aware of the stereotypes and challenges his players face outside of basketball. In a community often confronted with narrow and misrepresentative perspectives, Bethea stands as a defiant voice, preparing his players for life’s broader challenges.
“Sometimes people put you in a box, for lack of better words ‘a bunch of ghetto players,’ and nothing can be further from the truth,” Bethea emphasizes. “They put us in this box, but the message I like to send is I have future leaders, so don’t try to put that tag on us.”
Coach Bethea and his team will embark on the final leg of their 2024 season as they enter the state 3A tournament as the #10 seed and will face the winner of the Lincoln-Lake Washington in a loser out game Saturday evening at Bellevue College.