Guiding Eagles to state championship game became family affair for Altmix and sons

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Alex Altmix harbors dreams of eventually being a head coach and running his own high school basketball program.

Should his brother, Jordan, want the same thing, neither will have to search far to find a blueprint for success.

It’s been in front of them since the day either picked up a whistle.

All they’ve had to do is watch their dad go to work.

“I don’t mean to sound conceited or like I’m pumping him up or anything like that, but I truly believe he’s one of the best coaches this area has ever had,” Alex Altmix said of his father, Greg, the Liberty boys basketball team’s head coach who orchestrated the Eagles’ run to a second-place Class 1A state finish. “I truly believe that.”

It goes well beyond the Xs and Os, although the ability to understand situations, have the right play in mind and have practiced it are things that set Greg Altmiz apart.

Altmix has the ability to foster relationships with his players, get them to buy into his vision and push them to their physical and mental limits — sometimes beyond.

The Eagles’ appreciation for what he does and how he does it is special. Certainly after one of the greatest seasons in program history ended Saturday with a 54-41 loss to top-ranked Yorkville Christian in the state championship game, there were hugs and tears to be shared.

But if you watch in more intimate moments, they’ve fostered a bond that allows them to talk basketball, discuss tragedy and triumph, and relate on a person-to-person level, not just a coach-player level.

“He relaxes around them and enjoys the moments,” Jordan Altmix said. “There are things guys like Reese Knuffman that say things to him that I don’t know how they get away with. They just have a great back-and-forth. There are conversations where I’m just dying laughing.

“(Greg Altmix) is able to be himself, let his guard down and be raw with these guys. He just enjoys it.”

It’s given the head coach the opportunity to do the same thing with his sons.

“The trust we have in each other, it allows the whole thing to operate,” Alex Altmix said.

More often than not, the younger Altmixes think like their father.

“Sometimes when we speak our minds, he’ll give it right back to us,” Jordan Altmix said. “And we know there’s that mutual respect there and we’re always looking for what’s best for the players. But we’re on the same page so much. Almost everything I’ve learned from basketball comes from him.

“There was even a time on the bench today where he goes to call a play and says we need to run ‘Blazer.’ I was saying we need to go ‘Blazer,’ which is one of our plays. Learning from him and being able to be on the bench with him fosters a special relationship.”

It’s the kind of relationship Greg Altmix’s two sons will treasure forever.

“Knowing it’s something I want to do someday and getting to learn from him, and being able when he has something on his mind to bark at me and me being able to bark back at him, that’s irreplaceable,” Alex Altmix said. “To be able to have that father-son relationship on the bench and learn from him it’s awesome. It’s awesome.”