A familiar face to lead Box Elder

Sometimes, things have a way of coming full circle and the naming of LaVon Myers as boys head basketball coach in Box Elder, is one of them.

Myers, a former NAIA All-American for Montana State University-Northern, has been around the game of basketball his whole life. His dad was a coach and he himself was a great player. Then, he followed his father’s path and got into coaching.

The rest as they say is history.

“I wasn’t really planning on getting into coaching or anything, I actually wanted to go into business,” Myers said. “But it just ended up kind of working out that way. But I am really glad to be in Box Elder. The community has really accepted me and has really given me a lot of support.”

Myers, who had been an assistant under former Box Elder head coach Jeremy Macdonald, said he was hoping this opportunity would arise, but that he was thankful that it came with the Bears.

“I think that every coach wants some day to have the chance to be a head coach,” Myers said. “I didn’t think it would come this soon, but it was something that I wanted to experience. So I am very blessed and thankful to coach MacDonald for him trusting in me to take over the program that he started.”

Myers, who is the son of long-time coach Vander Myers, finished his collegiate career at MSU-Northern, following a stint at El Camino Compton Community College. As a Light, Myers excelled under head coach Shawn Huse, averaging more than 11 points per game and helping MSU-N win two Frontier Conference championships.

Following his successful playing career, Myers got into coaching. He has coached youth basketball in the Havre area for several years and was also an assistant under MacDonald as Box Elder won Class C state championships in 2014 and 2016.

“The one thing I learned the most about coach MacDonald is that he cares about his players and gives his all to his players,” Myers said. “He didn’t build a program on just basketball. Our program here at Box Elder is built on family and having a high quality of character, hard work, perseverance, having some type of common bond or a brotherhood that you always return to it, having something to feel special about.”

Myers has been able to mentor under many great basketball minds such as his father, Huse and MacDonald, but he has also paved his own way in the coaching profession and believes one of the biggest strengths he brings to the job, is the ability to mold players.

“I think player development is a strength of mine,” Myers said. “I have a passion for players and working with them to help their game grow. With my experience as a player, I think that will help me as a head coach. It’s hard to tell, as an assistant coach or a JV coach, you can see a glimpse of some of the things I do, but as a head coach I will take some of the tools I have learned throughout my years from some of the other good coaches I have played for, as well as what I learned from (Shawn Huse) and as an assistant for Jeremy and tie it all together, see what I like and move forward from there.”

Regardless of how he does it, Myers will have big shoes to fill. MacDonald led the Bears to five consecutive District 9C titles. Box Elder has also won the Northern C Divisional twice and made it to the Class C state tournament a total of three times. Certainly, it will take a lot of work for Box Elder to maintain its status as a Class C power, but Myers is up for the challenge.

“We want it to be about working hard and getting better every day,” Myers said. “But I also want to be competitive. I want our players to be pushing each other every day. I want them to get after each other to kind of push us and get ready for games. I believe that practice should be hard and games should be easy.”

Myers, who was known for his defensive prowess as a guard for the Lights, said he will bring that mindset to the bench with him as well.

“One thing that I always will stress is defense,” Myers said. “One goal of mine is always to be strong defensively. We are going to get after it defensively and if you have good defense that can create things for your offense, too.”

In the end, Box Elder and Myers turned out to be a perfect match. The Bears needed a successor for their legendary coach and Myers, a bright, young, basketball mind, needed an opportunity, as well as a home.

“When I first came to this area, I left school like two weeks early, I couldn’t wait to get back home,” Myers said. “But over the years, Havre as well as Box Elder took me in and I have been treated as a resident. People took me under their wings and I kind of fell in love with it. When I was able to get here to Box Elder, the need of positive role models like Jeremy MacDonald and Neal Rosette Jr., that was something that I wanted to join and took to.”

In addition to being the head coach of the boys basketball program in Box Elder, Myers teaches health and physical education at Box Elder. MacDonald, who stepped down following this past season, has accepted a job as Superintendent of Box Elder schools.