Coaching isn't easy, but when you add elements of a highly recruited player, national media coverage and a schedule that would test any team you can imagine what it's like to be the head coach at Verdigris High School.

HSSTM's Steve Braun sat down with Kelley Clarke to talk about the team, the past and the best players he's ever coached. HSSTM: Who would you say is the most underrated player on your team? Clarke: I think we have a couple of those. I'd say we have three or four. Cole Overholt has just gotten into his stride. Aaron Sunday didn't play last year, he hasn't quite hit his stride yet but he is getting close. The two kids that probably play the reason they play because how hard they play are DJ Sam and Andrew Parham. Andrew is a little bitty guy that has the heart of a lion. DJ Sam is not a great basketball talent but just gives it everything he's got the entire time he's out there. When both of them are on the floor they are going to be the best defenders, block out, and take charges. Do all the things that never show up in a statistic category. HSSTM: How would you describe your team? Clarke: I think we have a lot of parts that fit well together but don't get much of a chance to show it because Rotnei (Clarke) is moving into a point guard position which is foreign to him and foreign to everybody else. He's use to catching it off a screen and attacking the basket and giving the pass up from that stand point. But the way it is right now we've probably only had three teams play us straight up in either a man or a zone out of the 16 games that we've played. So the gimmick defenses really kind of take its toll because everybody has to catch it in a position where they can produce with it and they have to produce with it. Otherwise it kind of speeds everyone up because everybody gets anxious. As soon as we figure that out and get everybody a little more involved then they are we will be hard to stop. HSSTM: You've coached in the Tournament of Champions the past two year. What is it that makes it so special? Clarke: The competition level is phenomenal. I've been in it five times and the only coach to take four different teams to it. The pressure is all on the big schools. It's either feast or famine. It can determine what kind of season you have by how you play those games. Last year we lost all three and it took us a while to get over that. HSSTM: You have coached some great players. What is it like to coach great players? Clarke: It's more difficult than you think. Because I've had Rotnei Clarke, Jeremy Case, and Luke Dobbins all of them have had common characteristics. They all were tireless and just incredible workers on their own. They all have that mentality that I can take over this game and I can win this game. You want to always be in a position to have a great player like that and very few coaches have an opportunity to coach those guys. HSSTM: You've coached at the collegiate level. Could you see yourself returning to that level again soon? Clarke: No. I've got young kids and I'm older in age. I think if I was going to have the opportunity to do that I should have made that jump earlier. I have two daughters that are 12 and 9 so I wouldn't doubt seeing myself go into girls coaching sometime. But at the same time I have guys like Clay Martin coaching at Jenks and my ego doesn't tie me down to being a head coach somewhere. If I could go somewhere and be of use in my upper age at a high school that I trusted someone like Clay, I wouldn't have a problem with that. HSSTM: Is having past players coming back and telling you 'thank you for being so tough.' Is that something that keeps you going as a coach? Clarke: Yeah because sometimes I think I'm too tough still. I look back on some of those times and am regretful how hard I pushed some kids. The relationships you build there you can't place a monetary value on that. I've even been in a couple of guys weddings. It really makes it special to have the relationship with them still now is incredible.