GREAT FALLS — Following Bob Howard's resignation after 22 seasons as head coach of the Great Falls High boys basketball program, the school promoted assistant Eric Chaon to take over as the lead man on the bench.
"I was just thankful," Chaon told MTN Sports Tuesday at Great Falls High. "You think back to a lot of the players that you've had over the years, and a number of them reached out to me and congratulated me, and that was probably the biggest joy is just having a lot of those guys that you've influenced and spent a lot of time with congratulating you."
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Chaon was an assistant for 13 seasons under Howard and even played for the Bison early on in Howard's coaching tenure, winning a Class AA state championship in 2006.
It's a lot of responsibility to take over the program, Chaon said, because he has a good deal of pride for it.
"I could give you a list of 20 names at Great Falls High going back to the '80s, and '90s and early 2000s of players that I look up to, and coaches that I look up to," Chaon said. "I just think that connection leads me to have great pride, and I truly want what's best for the program and the kids, and hopefully we can do that."
Chaon said he learned a good amount as a coach from Howard — who's a Montana Coaches Association Hall of Fame member.
"I got a lot of good tips and information just from watching him over the years," Chaon said. "Tons of knowledge ... and you can just sit back as an assistant and watch."
Although, Chaon is taking over a program that has seen back-to-back seasons filled with struggles, but he said there's no secret formula on how to get back to winning ways.
"You got to get in the weight room, you got to get in the gym," Chaon said. "You get strong, shoot the ball, ball handling, there's nothing magic. You got to get in and work hard and hopefully we do that. I think we have some good kids that I'm excited to coach, and are looking forward to doing that."
Another he mentioned was getting his players to believe in themselves.
"And work hard," Chaon said. "I think when you put time in and you get strong, and you see the results of that, and you get in the gym and see the results of your work in the gym, and you start to believe in yourself a little bit because of the work you put in, that can result in some success."
Chaon has been a head coach before, having led Class C Augusta for a year prior to becoming a Bison assistant. He said his time under Howard helped prepare him to take over since he has knowledge of how to coach against AA competition.
"Certainly now you shift a little from suggestion mode to deciding here's what we're going to do with finality," Chaon said. "Sliding over one seat can be a pretty big change no matter how long you've been there — and I expect it will be — but yeah, I'm going to prepare and hopefully have our team ready to go."
