By Brad Ziegler
The first thing you notice when you meet David Devaney is his energy and the twinkle in his eyes. He is friendly and engaging and doesn’t show any signs of apprehension as he gets ready to start his first high school girls basketball practice of the season at a school that he has never worked for before.
Coach Devaney’s composure and easy going demeanor are a product of more than five decades of experience coaching basketball at all levels, from middle school kids to professional athletes. At age 77, he is returning to the gym at Kansas City Lutheran High School to do what he enjoys the most – working with young student athletes. “I enjoy helping each player become a better player and a better person during a basketball season,” he says. “I also enjoy the challenge of competing against other teams and having the opportunity to have a positive influence on a young person’s life.”
The central Missouri native graduated from the University of Missouri in 1969 and began his coaching career at North County Technical High School in Florissant in 1972. While in the St. Louis area, he began working, and eventually directing, basketball camps for Ed Macauley, a legendary basketball star in St. Louis for both the St. Louis University Billikens and the St. Louis Hawks of the NBA. He attended graduate school at the University of Kansas in 1974 and accepted the position as basketball graduate assistant for Jayhawks Coach Ted Owens. His coaching career subsequently took him to several stops throughout Missouri and Kansas, including Westminster College in Fulton, and high schools in Marceline, Houston, and St. Louis.
In addition to his work as a high school coach, Devaney has worked basketball camps in the Southern California summer professional league, at the University of Kansas, and at the Norway National Basketball Camp. He has also directed basketball camps for former Kansas Jayhawk Jeff Boschee and Missouri Tiger Kim English.
After retiring from teaching middle school in Grandview in 2016, Devaney dove into volunteering at his church and at Minor Park golf course. Over time, however, he felt that there was something missing in his life and was excited to find out about the opening at Kansas City Lutheran. “I believe that I am on this earth to help other people and I am honored and grateful to be the girls basketball coach at the Lutheran High School of Kansas City,” he says. “Coaching basketball is what I do best and is what I enjoy the most.”
Dan Bickel, the athletic director at Kansas City Lutheran, is pleased with this new coach. “We were seeking a coach with both expertise and passion,” he says. “Coach Devaney has both of these qualities. He has knowledge from working in many different programs over his years of coaching and an energy to share the game of basketball with as many people as possible.”
The task at Kansas City Lutheran won’t be easy as the school’s student body is less than 150 students and Devaney’s team will be competing against other teams that are led by coaches half his age. He may be the oldest high school basketball coach in the state this season, but he isn’t concerned about that. “I just enjoy competing,” he says. “I still have the passion for basketball even though there are things physically I can no longer do. I welcome the opportunity to compete against coaches much younger than me.” Bickel thinks that his new coach’s many years of experience “gives him an advantage when developing practice and game plans. It provides him the tools to help build up the girls basketball program at Lutheran High School.
“I will be using an offense this season that I learned at the University of Kansas in 1974, and I will be using a defense that I learned just this past summer,” Coach Devaney says.
“There may have been changes in strategy and execution in the game over the last 40 years, but the goal will still be the same — to assist each player to become the best player they can be and to develop a team that can play at their highest level.”
Coach Devaney said that he hopes his return to coaching can also be an inspiration to other senior adults in his neighborhood in south Kansas City and show them that it is never too late to follow your dreams and give back to your community. “There are no negatives to my returning to coaching. I want this season to be a positive one for the players, the school and myself.”
Devaney and his Kansas City Lutheran girls team kick off their 2024-25 season at home on December 3 against North Platte High School.