Fairbanks girls basketball coach Brock Oakes (left) watches a tie-up during a game against Triad earlier this season. Oakes will undergo surgery for a ruptured Achilles tendon on Monday. It is unknown whether he will be able to coach the Lady Panthers’ tournament game at Pleasant on Tuesday.
(Journal-Tribune photo by Tim Miller)
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“I heard a loud pop and then I thought someone kicked me in the back of the leg,” said Fairbanks High School girls basketball coach Brock Oakes.
“Then I realized, ‘man, this really hurts.’”
In a season in which the Lady Panthers have withstood a number of injury issues (involving an ankle, knee, wrist and concussion to various players), Oakes was added to the list when he ruptured his Achilles tendon during a recent team practice.
“I jumped in to help with a drill,” said Oakes, who has guided FHS to a 10-12 regular-season record. “Nobody was around me and I cut to the left. That’s when it happened.”
Oakes hobbled to the school’s training room where trainer Keith Tebbe quickly diagnosed the problem.
The coach’s Achilles had torn and rolled up the back of his leg.
“I got the call from Justin (boys coach George),” said Fairbanks athletic director Larry Morris. “He called me as his team was preparing to leave for Mechanicsburg and said that Brock was on the trainer’s table.
“I couldn’t believe that happened,” said Morris, who is recuperating from recent hip replacement surgery.
Oakes went to his doctor, who immobilized the leg in a boot.
Oakes was able to coach the regular-season finale, which was a loss at Mechanicsburg.
The Panther bench boss said he figured out a way to be as comfortable as possible during that game.
“I can walk around with the boot, because I really can’t do any more damage right now,” said Oakes. “I’m really not in that much pain, except when I have to keep my leg elevated while I sleep.”
Oakes’ doctor tried to schedule surgery for this past Wednesday, but the slate at The Ohio State University Hospital was already booked.
Oakes will undergo the surgery Monday morning at OSU.
That brings into question whether he will be able to coach during the Lady Panthers’ Division III tournament game on Tuesday at Marion Pleasant.
“That’s going to be a game-time decision,” said Oakes. “If we would have been able to do the surgery on Wednesday, there wouldn’t be any doubt that I would coach on Tuesday.
“With surgery on Monday, I’m not really sure if I will be able to coach.”
If Oakes can’t be on the sidelines, the team will be turned over to varsity assistant coach Lyndsey DeRoads.
Assistant coaches Jennifer Thrush and Tony Good will also be available to help.
“Lyndsey brings a lot of fire and energy to our practices,” said Oakes. “She’s a former player here and our all-time girls leading scorer.
“We will prepare a game plan for Pleasant and Lyndsey will execute it if I can’t be there.”
This is the first time that Oakes, 31, has experienced an injury of this nature.
“I never had anything severe like this when I played high school basketball (at Hilliard Darby),” he said.
Oakes, who is in his seventh season at the Lady Panther helm, will be in a cast until March 1 and then go through two additional weeks during which he cannot put any weight on his leg.
He will then begin three-to-six months worth of rehab in order to “just get me back walking.”
It will be nine months to a full year before Oakes will be able to play basketball once again.
“I play with a group of guys at my church every Monday evening,” he said.
“I think it’s time to retire from playing,” he chuckled. “At least for a while.”