J-M grad Gustovich hired as Rockets’ boys basketball coach
In 2015 Nick Gustovich was having the time of his life, playing basketball for Jefferson-Morgan.
He recalled being in a playoff game against Cornell, which featured Dane Jackson, who went on to have a six-year career in the NFL.
Now he hopes to create similar memories for the current Jefferson-Morgan boys basketball players.
Gustovich was hired to coach the Rockets’ boys basketball team last month. He’ll take over for Brandon Lawless, who resigned after five seasons after leading the Rockets to a section title last year for the first time since 2001.
Gustovich is excited to wear the black and orange colors again.
“I went to a lot of the games the last few years,” Gustovich said. “Going to the games and getting back into basketball made me want to be involved, so whenever the spot opened up, I put my hat in the ring and tested the waters. Thankfully I got the job.”
Gustovich’s former teammate at Jefferson-Morgan, Dylan Davis, will be his assistant. Art Cage is also on the staff as a volunteer assistant.
This isn’t the first time Gustovich has coached at Jefferson-Morgan. He was a volunteer assistant for his former coach, Dennis Garrett, from 2017-21.
Gustovich credited Garrett for instilling a passion for basketball in him as well as helping him get prepared for life.
“Coach Garrett basically formed us into what we are now,” Gustovich said. “Basketball is a team sport. We won some games and made the playoffs and those were awesome experiences, but with how Coach Garrett prepared us and shaped us to go on to become productive members of society was just as important.”
Gustovich works on a K-9 handler unit at the Greene County Sheriff’s Office. His dog specializes in explosive detection and gun detection.
Gustovich has been in law enforcement at the Sheriff’s Office since 2016.
When Gustovich played at Jefferson-Morgan, he had three teammates that were 1,000-point scorers: Rece Henneman, the 2nd all-time leading scorer in Jefferson-Morgan history, D.L. Garrett and Jalen Torres.
Now Gustovich will try to develop the next group of 1,000-point scorers.
He inherits a team that graduated all five of its starters, but returns a couple of seniors and juniors with varsity experience.
“It’s a learning experience for everybody,” Gustovich said. “New coaches and a new system coming in, but they are all very smart kids. They have a high basketball IQ. We’ve been running open gyms for a couple weeks, so some of the kids are coming out to play and get in basketball shape. We have some others that are still doing fall sports, and that takes priority, but hopefully when we get closer to the season, we’ll have more kids coming out for the team.”
Gustovich has been impressed with some of the underclassmen that have been coming out to the open gyms, including some new freshmen that’ll be making the jump from junior high.
He’s looking forward to the growing process as he starts to build his program.
“We’re just kind of meeting the kids and getting to see what their potential is,” Gustovich said. “Everybody on the team will contribute and have a role at some point.”