Why the Eric Gaff, Mark Johnson dynamic is key for South Bend Saint Joseph boys basketball

SOUTH BEND — It didn’t take long for Mark Johnson to offer Eric Gaff a position on his coaching staff.

In fact, the interview had barely ended before the veteran head coach was offering a young assistant his first high school gig.

“I couldn’t go quick enough to hire him,” Johnson said. “And right then, he said yes.”

Five years later, Johnson will watch from the crowd as Gaff leads the South Bend Saint Joseph boys basketball team in the IHSAA Class 3A state championship game Saturday night. What started as a head coach/assistant coach relationship has blossomed into a mentor/mentee dynamic between Johnson and Gaff.

“He’s been phenomenal for me,” Gaff said. “I learned a lot as an assistant working under him … I think we talk every day. I call him after practice, and we talk about it. After every game, he’ll tell me very straight and clearly what we did well and didn’t do well, and that’s what you want in a guy that you’re going to look to for advice and wisdom.”

Johnson has known about Gaff for more than 20 years. He coached against him when Gaff was a player at Concord and Johnson was a coach at South Bend Riley. In the 2005 contest between the Minutemen and Wildcats, the 6-foot-10 Gaff had an alley-oop dunk to start the game, electrifying the McCuen Gym crowd.

“I told him after the game, ‘One of these days, I’m going to get even with you, buddy,’” Johnson recalled. “Well, I made him work for me, so that was my payback.”

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After a decorated career at Grace College and an overseas professional career, Gaff was looking to get into the coaching scene. As most veteran coaches do, Johnson had connections that helped lead him to Gaff.

“One of my other assistants who’s a really good friend of mine was a big fan of Grace College and graduated from there, Rudy Glingle,” Johnson said. “He said, ‘Mark, we’ve got a guy that wants to coach and wants to teach.’”

Johnson spent his final three years coaching at Saint Joseph, with Gaff on the staff for two of them. He compiled a 470-373 career record across 36 seasons, with stops at Fort Wayne Bishop Dwenger, South Bend LaSalle, Riley and Saint Joseph. He reached the semistate championship game four times, with the latest occurrence coming in his final season. Saint Joe fell painfully short of the 2021 state title game, losing 61-59 to Leo inside Elkhart’s North Side Gym.

With Johnson retiring, Gaff applied for the head coaching job. He was hired, holding that role for the last three seasons.

Given Johnson’s extensive history coaching basketball in South Bend, Gaff feels like he has a leg-up on other young head coaches coaching in the area.

“It’s like having an encyclopedia to talk to,” Gaff said. “You bring up a player’s name, and he’ll go, ‘That guy’s dad played here,’ or ‘That guy’s uncle was really good in the ‘80s.’ He knows everything about everyone, and you mix that with his knowledge of the game, it just helps me out a lot.”

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After going 12-11 his first season and 12-15 last year, Gaff has the Huskies sitting with a 20-9 record heading into Saturday’s 3A championship game with Scottsburg (24-5). Throughout the postseason run, Johnson has had a simple piece of advice for Gaff.

“Enjoy it,” Johnson said. “Each time you win, it seems like it gets easier because you’re on such an incredible high. But then you’re so worried about having all the I’s dotted and the T’s crossed – is this going well? Is that going well? – you lose track of the enjoyment of why you coach.”

Like he has for most Saint Joseph games since retiring, Johnson will be in attendance at Gainbridge Fieldhouse Saturday night. His 98-year-old mother, Corinne, will also be there, taking in her first live sporting event since Johnson’s last game as a head coach three years ago.

“She wants to see a Saint Joseph men’s basketball team play in the state championship,” Johnson said. “She told me, ‘If you can’t do it, Eric Gaff will do it.’”

Regardless of the outcome, Johnson will be there to celebrate the successes of the season with Gaff.

“I’m not only extremely happy for him," Johnson said. "I’m extremely proud of him.”

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: IHSAA basketball: Mark Johnson mentors Saint Joseph coach Eric Gaff