West Deptford Coaching Legend Bob Byatt Back as Visitor

On his way to West Deptford High School, it suddenly hit Bob Byatt.

The former Eagles’ head boys' basketball coach was returning to the gym he called home for 12 seasons.

“This is the first time I’ve been back in the gym since I left here eight years ago, and to be honest, I didn’t think much about it until driving in tonight,” said Byatt, now an assistant with Haddonfield.

“I took my old route that I used to go to school, and once I got here and saw (Athletic Director) Tim Cammarota and (football coach) Clyde Folsom and looked around the gym a little bit, it got to me. A lot of good things happened the 12 years I was here.”

Those good things included a 193-120 record and the program’s only Colonial Conference title in the 1995-96 season. Byatt was a fixture in the West Deptford community and was known for his soft-spoken, yet driven, approach to coaching.

Byatt was a head coach for a total of 28 years. He began his career with seven seasons as a high school coach in Virginia, then became the head coach at West Deptford for 12 years before moving on to Washington Township for another seven years.

He resigned from his post with the Minutemen prior to this season due to personal reasons, but wanted to remain in the game in some capacity. Haddonfield head coach Paul Wiedeman was an assistant at West Deptford during Byatt’s tenure there, and the one-time protégé was quick to offer Byatt a spot on his bench.

The veteran coach decided the move was right for him and his family.

“(Wiedeman) gave me the opportunity to stay in the game a little bit and I wanted to on a part-time basis,” said Byatt. “I really wanted to stay around kids and the other young coaches, so I jumped on that opportunity and it has worked out well for me.”

That doesn’t mean he has completely given up thoughts of returning to the bench full-time.

“I miss being a head coach in many ways, I have to admit that, but with my family situation it’s exactly what I needed at this time,” Byatt said.

The way Byatt sees it, he gets all the fun that comes with coaching without the stress of being the boss.

 “The way I would compare it is that it is almost like being a grandfather,” he said. “You get to go play with the kids and have fun, but when it’s over I get to go home and I leave them with the parent.

"In a way that’s been really nice because I love being around the kids and love being around the coaches, and this allows me to keep doing that and I’m thankful for the opportunity.”

He also sympathizes with the struggles the Eagles have endured this season. Thursday’s 79-41 loss to the Bulldawgs was their fourth straight, dropping them to 3-15. It may take time, but Wyatt is confident current West Deptford coach Don Clark will lead the program to better days.

“Things weren’t all that good before I came here,” Wyatt said. ‘We had some success; we had some good young players fairly early in that process. You have to keep working hard with the kids, keep the faith and keep them believing, which I think Coach Clark is doing a good job of.

“The second thing is you have to get involved in the community a little bit and make the kids want to be basketball players. I think that was one of the keys to what we were able to do during that time because to the kids, basketball meant something.

“And you have to be lucky, you really do. You have to get some good players, and what helped us back then is that we got a few very good players that for whatever reason fell into our lap. It’s a combination of all those things and it will happen again. I’m confident of it.”

Colonial Conference

Haddonfield 79, West Deptford 41

Haddonfield       23           19           30           7              - 79

West Deptford  10           9              16           6              - 41

Haddonfield: Biddle 10, Davis 5, Griffin 6, Lacatena 23, Parenti 12, Reisman 1, Speake 2, Polk 20.

West Deptford:  Fair 1, Flacco 2, Haines 4, Hansen 7, Jakubowski 13, McShane 4, Redrow 10.