Making the big 700

The number 700 is large by most measurements and for one Green River High School teacher, it represents the number of basketball games he coached for Green River after the final game of a tournament in Pinedale last weekend.

For freshman boys coach Tim Cassity, working at the high school is the best job in the world. A 35-year employee of the district, he can be found teaching students the art of woodworking throughout the school day. After school, he spends his time coaching track, football, and his favorite sport, basketball.

"It's a great sport to love," Cassity said.

He views football like a game of Chess, but thinks of basketball as "constant chaos," with how quickly the situation for a team can change. Cassity always wanted to be a coach and started when he was working in New Mexico. When he moved to Green River in 1988 to work in the district, he quickly became a coach for both the seventh-grade boys and eighth-grade girls middle school teams at Lincoln Middle School. He coached at the middle school for six years, then became Rick Carroll's assistant coach when he coached the girls junior varsity team. He then became head coach for the Lady Wolves' varsity basketball team, then took a year off before becoming the freshman boys basketball coach for the last 15 years.

Cassity's landmark number would have gone by unnoticed if not for one of his students taking an interest in his score books.

"One of my students said, 'Hey, you coached my mom,'" he said.

Through the years, Cassity has kept all of the score books through his various coaching roles, compiling a record of his teams' achievements over the decades. As the student researched her mother's basketball records, she told Cassity he was nearing his 700th game.

Over the various coaching duties he's had, there are a few moments that have stuck with him through the years.

One memorable group for him was the first varsity team he coached that made it to the state tournament in Casper, saying that first time was special for him. Another notable time focused on the final varsity girls team he coached, describing that group as a special group of girls.

"The best part of coaching is when they want to win for you as much as you want to win for them," he said. "That was a great group to end with."

Looking towards the future, Cassity says he still has a few years left in him and the love of teaching and coaching has never left him. That love is rooted in the kids he has worked with.

"It's the kids, that's the best part about it," he said.

Carroll, who has also coached hundreds of games, said Cassity's longevity can be rooted in a desire to teach skills and a work ethic that can benefit students both in sports and throughout their lives.

While winning is always a goal, Cassity said he also wants to share his love of the game with his players. He admits varsity games are mostly about winning games, but for younger teams, tempering an enjoyment of the game and a desire to continue playing with that desire to succeed on the court strengthens the program by keeping kids invested in the sport while giving them an activity to love long after their high school and college years.

"More so than winning or losing, I want them to enjoy basketball," Cassity said.

After 700 games, the relationships he built with his players outweighs any win-loss record for a given season. Cassity still hears from many of his former players as well, something that causes him to smile as he talks about them.

"I've had an outstanding group of kids to coach over 700 games," Cassity said.