​Thirty-two years ago, coach Larry Ham let senior Chris Wallace, the star quarterback for the South High School football team, run the defensive calls for the basketball squad. “I’m offense on the football field,” Wallace explained, “but when it comes to basketball, I believe it all begins and ends with who is guarding, who’s chasing down 50-50 balls, and who’s winning the rebound war.” That mindset guided Wallace during the 1993-94 season, and it continues to shape his approach as he prepares to take over Springfield’s boys basketball program as head coach.
“Defense dictates a lot of what we do on offense,” Wallace noted, “and that means pushing the tempo on the fast break. If we can’t score on the break, we’ll lean into our other strengths, but the foundation we’re trying to establish right now is defense-first.” Springfield announced Wallace’s hiring on June 1, naming him as the successor to Matt Yinger, who stepped down in April after a three-year run in which the program went 28-48. Wallace will also remain the offensive coordinator for the football team, and he said the basketball squad will practice in the evenings after football sessions when their seasons overlap.
The Springfield basketball roster features several football players, and the team’s first game is slated for mid-December—a timing that mirrors the school’s traditional pattern of football players contributing to the winter sport and the football program often advancing deep into the playoffs. “If I have to double up, that means we’re doing what we’re supposed to do on the football field,” Wallace said.
Springfield has endured seven straight losing seasons in basketball, a stretch not dissimilar to the football program’s earlier struggles. When Maurice Douglass took over Springfield football in 2014, the team had won only four games across the previous three seasons. Douglass transformed the football program into a winner within three years and soon propelled it to state power status, culminating in three consecutive state championship appearances. Wallace is aiming for a similar trajectory on the basketball court.
“Those are the same kids who proved what they could do on the football field, so the expectations don’t change,” Wallace stated. “Once you set a standard, you commit to it, and I believe our players will buy in. That’s where we see ourselves headed.”
For Wallace, the road to that level of attainment begins with cultivating a basketball culture from the ground up. “One thing I’ve emphasized with my assistant coaches is that there isn’t an established basketball culture yet, and that’s where the work must start,” he said. “We built a culture in football—a sense of belonging and accountability that starts with everyone, from the trainers to the players. That’s the model we want to replicate in basketball as well. It’s possible, but it requires the players to declare, ‘This is who we are, this is how we’ll operate, and this is the standard we’ll hold ourselves to as student-athletes.’”