MUSKEGON — Reeths-Puffer welcomed home a program legend Wednesday as new boys basketball coach J.R. Wallace came to the Dan Beckeman Arena for a meet-and-greet with current and future players and their families.
Wallace, who graduated from R-P in 1999, replaces Nate Aardema, who stepped down after three seasons at R-P and 15 seasons as a head coach in the White Lake area. Aardema said in a Facebook post in April that the decision came “after a lot of consideration and time.”
Luckily for the Rockets, that opened the door for Wallace just at the time he was thinking about leaving the grind of college coaching - he spent the past 10 seasons as an assistant at NCAA Division II Grand Valley State University - so he could be more present for his wife Angel and two sons (plus a third child due in November).
“It was great timing for my family,” Wallace said. “To have three kids under 8, and then be out on the road recruiting, is a big challenge. I wanted to be able to come home and kind of slow things down a little bit, and what better place to do it than here at Reeths-Puffer?”
It won’t be all taking it easy, of course, as Wallace takes up the posts of assistant athletic director and dean of students in addition to being boys basketball coach. He’ll step into an expected rebuild, as the Rockets will graduate star players Jaxson Whitaker - who broke Wallace’s all-time career scoring record at R-P just a few months ago - and Travis Ambrose.
However, it’s a challenge that excites Wallace, and the way he looks at it, the high-profile nature of his return to R-P means the pressure will shift away from his charges and onto him next season.
“We’ll be able to let these guys just focus on growing and being the best player they can be, and that’s growing on and off the court,” Wallace said. “Ever since I’ve been in this building I’ve always had a target on my back. There’s always been something for me to do. That’s no different than coming from where I’m coming from, from Grand Valley. We were always at the top of the nation, so that’s nothing new for me. I just want to make sure that our players understand the work it takes to be at that level.”
Wallace has deep R-P roots even beyond his own; at one point before Wallace held the Rockets’ scoring record, it was his uncle, former star Mark Hughes, who had it. Wallace went on to Central Michigan after twice earning all-state recognition at R-P, and was a leading guard for the 2002-03 Chippewas team that upset Creighton in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Wallace had 12 points in that game, and 14 in the team’s second-round defeat to Duke.
From there, Wallace played professional basketball in four Spanish-speaking countries - Argentina, Chile, Venezuela and Spain - before entering coaching. He was girls head coach at Wyoming Rogers (since merged into Wyoming) in 2012, then made the move to GVSU before returning home.
Athletic Director Cliff Sandee isn’t hiding how excited he is to have brought Wallace back to R-P.
“This community was so thirsty and so excited for Coach to come back home,” Sandee told the crowd. “I’m excited to get (Wallace’s sons) LJ and Jrue, and Angel in some Reeths-Puffer gear...I can promise this, as we have some returning varsity players and some upcoming freshmen and some JV players in the arena, you’re going to be challenged. There are going to be struggles. I promise you he’s going to hold you accountable, I promise you that you’re going to be developed as athletes, but I promise you, it’s all going to be worth it.”
