Harmann’s return to Blue Devil Gym is enjoyable, memorable experience

QUINCY — As Chris Harmann strolled out of the Quincy High School boys basketball team’s locker room and onto the Blue Devil Gym court last Saturday morning, instincts took over and guided him toward the home team’s bench.

Then reality set in.

He wasn’t supposed to be sitting on the north end of the gym.

“I came out and looked and was like, ‘Oh, we’re the guests,’” said Harmann, the former QHS player and assistant coach who is now the head coach at Dixon High School. “I started that direction and then I saw (Liberty coach Greg Altmix), so I was like, ‘Oh, hold on a minute. We’re not over there.’”

In the first game of a nine-game slate in the Quincy Shootout, Harmann coached from the visitor’s bench.

It’s the first time in the venerable facility he’s sat on the south end of the court.

“It was weird,” Harmann said. “I won’t lie. It was weird.”

Yet, it was exciting and memorable, too.

“Obviously, it’s a great facility,” said Harmann, a 2003 QHS graduate whose team lost 62-48 to Liberty after being off for nine days. “It was neat to see our players’ reactions to different things. I told our boys, ‘The outcome wasn’t exactly what we were hoping for, but this is a great place to get us going again.’ It’s a fun place to play.”

It’s a fun place to coach, too.

“Without a doubt,” Harmann said.

A two-year varsity player, Harmann was a defensive specialist and a grinder, whose tenacity and determination led to the radio announcers calling him the “Bulldog” on the air. He also holds the distinction of having the highest single-season 3-point shooting percentage in program history after going 6 for 6 his senior season.

After graduating from Augustana College, Harmamnn spent 10 seasons as an assistant coach in the QHS program under head coaches Sean Taylor and Andy Douglas. In 2018, he earned the opportunity to run his own program when he was hired at Dixon.

It’s been a good fit. The Dukes won a Class 3A regional championship his first season and are 11-7 so far this season, his fourth at the helm.

“We’ve got good kids, and the kids are why you coach,” Harmann said. “They’ve learned a lot and they work hard. They flat out work, and we get better each day. We tell them there is no perfect line to success. You just have to keep working.”

It led Harmann to Dixon and back home where his family and friends could see him coach.

“My mom has definitely been looking forward to this,” Harmann said. “So I’m happy for her, for our family and for our kids. This is a great experience for them.”

Harmann made sure to make it a complete experience by bringing the Dukes to Quincy on Friday night and allowing to watch some of the games and check out QHS’s bally-hooed pregame ceremony.

“I think the kids got to see something a little different than what they are used to, which is what we were hoping for,” Harmann said.

Harmann himself got to experience something a little different, too.

“It was fun,” Harmann said of coaching in a place he calls home. “It’s been great to see a lot of good people. There are so many good people here. It’s been a real pleasure to catch up with them.”