Posted on Fri, Apr. 25, 2008

'Little brother' vs. Bibby blood

Rondo's high school coach faces quite a quandary

By Mark Story

HERALD-LEADER SPORTS COLUMNIST

Ed Betz

Rajon Rondo of the Celtics has averaged 13.5 points, six rebounds and 8.5 assists in the post-season.Photo by Ed Betz | Associated Press

Doug Bibby is in a bit of a pickle.

When it comes to the Celtics-Hawks matchup — specifically the point guards — in the NBA playoffs, suffice to say Rajon Rondo's former high school coach and Mike Bibby's first cousin feels strongly both ways.

"It's weird, really weird," says Doug Bibby, who coached Louisville's Central High School to its first Sweet Sixteen appearance in 30 years in 2008.

In his time as head coach at Louisville's Eastern High, Doug Bibby took a skinny kid with unusually large hands and convinced him he had a special gift for playing basketball.

The relationship between him and Rondo grew deeper than player/coach. Bibby became a life mentor for the Louisville product who became a McDonald's All-American and, for two up-and-down years, a Kentucky Wildcat.

Even now, when second-year pro Rondo is a starter on the revitalized Boston team that has returned the greatest jersey in pro basketball history to relevance, Bibby says they talk every day.

"It's almost like a big brother, little brother kind of thing," Bibby says.

Then there is the other side. The Hawks' point guard is an actual blood relative of Doug Bibby -- his father and Mike Bibby's dad are brothers.

The Louisville high school coach is proud of the athletics legacy attached to his family name.

Henry Bibby, Mike's father, was the starting point guard on three UCLA NCAA championship teams (1970-72). Later, he earned an NBA championship ring with the New York Knicks as a player. Kentucky fans will recall Henry's coaching career at Southern Cal, which included an upset win over Tubby Smith's Wildcats in the 2001 NCAA tourney round of 16.

Fred Bibby, Doug's father, played for the old Baltimore Bullets of the NBA and was a college coach at the University of Richmond.

Henry and Fred's brother, Jim Bibby, was a longtime major-league baseball pitcher who threw a no-hitter for the Texas Rangers in 1973.

Moving down a generation, Mike Bibby was a star point guard for Arizona's 1997 NCAA championship team and a standout on the entertaining Sacramento Kings teams from earlier this decade.

Back when Mike was an emerging NBA star and Doug Bibby believed that Rondo was a teenager with pro potential, Doug would use his Labor Day weekends to travel to California, Rondo in tow, to see his cousin.

Mike Bibby would let Rondo participate in his pre-season workouts in ARCO Arena and let him play in two-on-two games that also included then-Kings guards Bobby Jackson and Mateen Cleaves.

"I always thought the most important part of that, Mike showed Rajon how an NBA point guard carries himself," Doug Bibby says. "We'd go to ARCO, and I would ride with other members of the family, it would just be Mike and Rajon in one car so they could talk."

So you now understand why watching these Boston-Atlanta games can be vexing for one Louisville high school coach.

During Sunday night's Game 1, Doug Bibby says he "had about a thousand calls." Everyone wondering one thing. Who're you rooting for, Doug, your protege or your blood?

"It's really tough for me. I love Mike," Doug says, "but I'm for Boston."

In defense of rooting against his own kin, Doug notes that there are an uncanny amount of ties between the Celtics roster and the Bibby family.

Celtics assistant coach Kevin Eastman played at Richmond for Fred Bibby. Forward Brian Scalabrine played at USC for Henry Bibby. Guard Eddie House is married to the former Charlsie Bibby, Mike's sister. And, of course, there is Rondo.

So far, the ex-UK standout has dominated his matchup with the guy who once took him under wing. In two Boston blowouts, Rondo is averaging 13.5 points, 8.5 assists and six rebounds a game.

Mike Bibby -- who, in fairness, is not exactly surrounded by Garnett, Pierce and Allen -- has made only four of 17 shots in the two games.

"Mike has already proven himself as an NBA point guard," Doug Bibby says. "At that level, it's a business, so playing this way in the playoffs is huge for Rajon."

Even if who the ex-Wildcat is playing so well against creates quite the quandary for Rondo's old coach.

Saturday

Celtics at Hawks