Former McPherson star player savors homecoming, chance to coach against Kurt Kinnamon

It was an odd feeling for Kurt Kinnamon breaking down game film of undefeated Circle, the No. 4-ranked team in Class 4A, ahead of Friday’s clash with his top-ranked McPherson Bullpups in the Roundhouse.

Before every game, Kinnamon diagrams the opponent’s plays to give to his players to study. Except this time, he was drawing up the same plays he’s been running at McPherson for decades.

That’s because Circle is coached by Jordan Crawford, a former all-state player under Kinnamon in 2007 who has retained his McPherson roots in his transition to coaching.

“They run this play called ‘OSU’ that we used to run for Jordan all the time and he used to kill people with it,” Kinnamon said.

The only odd part of the experience for Crawford was using the visitor’s locker room, which he said housed the same locker he used in physical education class when he was in high school.

He savored everything else about the homecoming and relished the opportunity to showcase his team against his former coach. Even though McPherson prevailed with a 68-57 win, Crawford rated the experience as nothing less than “special.”

“There’s so much McPherson in me, just in my DNA, it has McPherson written all over it,” Crawford said. “It was pretty cool to be on the other side of things and see that some of the stuff that we ran back in 2007 is still working for them in 2023. I knew it was going to be a very tall task. You’ve got to play 32 good minutes to beat McPherson and unfortunately for us, tonight wasn’t our night.”

Crawford’s father, Jay, still coaches middle school basketball in McPherson, while Crawford’s niece attended Kinnamon’s basketball camp over Christmas break. The day before the game, Kinnamon ran into Crawford’s twin brother, Chris, at the local Wal-Mart.

Kinnamon has kept tabs on his former player since he joined the coaching world, rising the ranks as an assistant coach to head coach of the El Dorado girls basketball team for six years, then moving to Circle as the assistant girls basketball coach for the previous two seasons. Crawford in his first season as Circle boys basketball coach.

“I pull for them every game they’re not playing us,” said Kinnamon, who pointed out this was the first time he has coached against a former player in his three decades of experience. “He stuck through some really hard times at El Dorado and I feel really good that he’s having success at Circle. They traveled really well tonight and it’s neat to see that he has the backing of the community there.”

While Crawford was influenced by McPherson College coach Tim Swartzendruber, whom he played for in college, he said there’s no doubt Kinnamon had the largest impact shaping his view of the way basketball should be played.

“Coach Kinnamon is a Kansas coaching legend,” Crawford said. “And that’s because of the attention to detail and how hard his teams play. A lot of that style and that grit and that grind and making teams earn it, I get a lot of that from him.”

Circle certainly made McPherson earn it on Friday, as the Thunderbirds led 14-11 after the first quarter and had Trevor Cowman erupt for 31 points and eight rebounds.

But McPherson’s defense ultimately won out, forcing 23 turnovers and holding Circle to under 36% shooting from the field. The Bullpups improved to 6-1 this season behind four scorers in double-digits, led by 17 points off the bench from Gabe Pyle.

At the end of the night, Crawford was able to shake Kinnamon’s hand with pride, knowing his team had put forth a worthy effort. And what his former coach said to him meant more than any win could have on Friday.

“I told him that he’s got a really nice team and that I’m proud of what he’s done,” Kinnamon said. “We had to fight our tails off to get that win. That’s a team (in Circle) that is very deserving of being ranked high in 4A, no doubt about it.”