Q&A with Candor legend Toby Foster, who's again following his basketball dreams at Elmira
Wise words from the oldest of Toby Foster's four children inspired a career change that led to a job as head varsity coach of the Elmira High School boys basketball team.
"I was talking to her about following her dreams," Foster said of daughter Addison. "She looked at me and said, 'Dad, you're not following your dream.' She knew I wanted to get back into coaching and teaching again."
Foster, 43, subsequently resigned as a probation officer at about this time last year, took a job as a teacher's aide at Waverly High School until the end of the school year, then was hired as a physical education teacher at Broadway Academy in the Elmira City School District starting this school year.
In September, he became the third boys basketball coach in Express history, following John Miller (2011-13) and Ryan Johnson (2013-23).
Foster's basketball resume is among the best in Section 4 history.
More: Section 4 boys basketball: Results, top performers for 2023-24
From last season: 'It feels amazing': A year after loss to Corning in final, Elmira savors sweet revenge
The 2,231 points he scored for Candor High School from 1995-99 rank second on the section's career boys list behind Tioga Central's Jim Ryder (2,238 from 1984-88). Foster was twice a first-team all-state pick by the New York State Sports Writers Association and as a senior was named Class C Player of the Year in New York. He helped Candor to three straight Section 4 titles.
At Division I Canisius College, Foster started all four seasons and scored 1,140 points while hitting 264 3-pointers, still tops in Golden Griffins history.
He has been a varsity head coach at Candor, where he was also JV coach and varsity assistant to current Coyotes coach Nate Thomas. Foster was a teacher and boys basketball coach at Bluestone High School in southern Virginia before moving closer to home after Addison was born. He coached JV basketball at Athens Area High School, has coached Addison in AAU hoops and last year was an official for JV games with the Elmira board.
Foster lives in Chemung with his wife, Jenilee. Along with 12-year-old Addison, they are the parents of daughter Shyann (about to turn 9) and 4-year-old twins Natalie and Trevor.
Question: What has it been like coaching Elmira?
Answer: It’s been an absolute blast, just an absolute exciting dream come true to coach a program like this, with this much talent, a supportive school system and great kids. The community has done nothing but show me love and support. It’s been great.
Q: What is your coaching philosophy?
A: I just try to take advantage of the talent we’ve got and use it to the best of our ability. I’m still trying to figure these kids out, I’m not going to lie. I’m trying to figure out exactly what we’ve got as far as team chemistry with different players in different positions. We’re pretty deep. I’m trying to figure that out and get the kids on the same page. It’s challenging, but it’s fun. I’m looking forward to moving forward throughout the season.
Q: What has the learning process been like getting to know the players?
A: The kids have been great. The kids, the parents and the school district have all been great. I couldn’t ask for more support and kids working hard and all that. It has been a little bit of a learning curve for me just because I started in September and we did six weeks of open gym. Some of the kids obviously were playing a fall sport and weren’t here, which is fine. Had good fall preseason open gym sessions and I got a chance to see some of the kids. Football had a great season, I’m happy for them. Those guys started about a week after the season started, so I’m just kind of meshing things together and getting things together and I’m hoping that we take off maybe in the second half of the year a little bit and find our stride. It’s on me to find it and we’ll keep working until we do.
Q: What do you hope to see out of the team?
A: I want them to have a good time, I want them to have a good experience. I think that’s really important in high school sports. Everybody wants to win, of course. At the end of the day 20 years later, you’re going to remember if you won or not, but you’re also going to remember your team camaraderie and how well you liked each other in practice and how well you got along and if you worked hard.
Personally, what I’d like to see from them is to come to practice every day and work hard and try to earn more playing time and make the team better, make yourself better, buying in completely to what I’m trying to do for the program. I think if we do that we’ll be in good shape, and for the most part the kids are doing that.
Q: What are your thoughts on the STAC and Section 4 hoops?
A: I have the utmost respect for every team in the STAC and every coach and all the players. This is a very good league and it’s loaded with talented players and very talented coaches. I hope that we can be one of those teams as well. We’re going to be humble and excited to play everybody and respect everybody, but we’re also going to try to play our game and see if we can maybe make some ground up in the second half of the season.
Q: What are the team's strengths?
A: Depth is definitely a strength. Inside play and transition basketball – getting up and down the court – I think those are strengths of ours. Defensively I can see possibly being a strength. We’re kind of working some kinks out. That being said, there’s a lot of strengths out there from a lot of other teams.
I think something we need to get better at is we need to be a little more disciplined in what we’re doing. If we’re running a specific type of defense, we’ve got to stay within the boundaries of that defense and not go freelance and go crazy and take wild, crazy chances on steals and missing and giving up free lanes to the basket. That’s something we’ve got to dial back on.
Q: What did you take from your playing days into coaching?
A: Team chemistry is extremely important. Hard work and rewarding the players that work the hardest and are totally bought in to what the coach is asking is extremely important. Because it’s not an individual sport, it is a team sport and sacrificing for the team is very important. If the team needs you to score, then you’ve got to score. If the team needs you to rebound and set screens, you’ve got to do that. It’s important for everybody to understand it is a team sport and you can’t do it on your own no matter how gifted and talented you are. I certainly couldn’t do it on my own in high school or college and nobody really can.
Q: What draws you to basketball?
A: My dad introduced me to the game when I was a young child and I was actually quite a bit better at baseball at the time. And I liked baseball, it was fun. I just liked basketball because it was a little bit more action and consistent and I guess at that time it resonated a little bit more with me and I fell in love with the game.
At this stage in my life obviously my playing days are long gone and I’m all about giving back to the kids and to the game that’s given me so much. I’ve met so many people, it’s changed my life. From a farm boy in the small town of Candor, New York, without a single stop light in the whole town I’ve played all over the United States, from Alaska to Arizona and all these different states, and the game’s brought that to me. I just want to give back to the game, helping these kids get to the next level is ultimately what I want to do and have a good, rewarding experience.
Follow Andrew Legare on Twitter: @SGAndrewLegare. You can also reach him at alegare@gannett.com. To get unlimited access to the latest news, please subscribe or activate your digital account today
This article originally appeared on Elmira Star-Gazette: Toby Foster back in local basketball as Elmira High boys coach
