The Monroe Monitor - The Explosion

by Polly Keary, Monitor Staff The Explosion basketball team has found a new home in Monroe. Now the team is looking for some new team members, and will hold tryouts in November.

Of the 15 team members that played on the professional minor league team in its first season last year, only about five will come back, said head coach Randy Redwine Saturday.

The rest will come from other teams or from the community during open tryouts in November.
“We may have 40 or 50 people here trying out for 12 spots,” said Redwine. “I love to see that level of competition.”

About half those spots could be filled by people leaving other minor league teams, said Redwine.

“You don't have to go out and recruit. Players will find you,” he said. “We have four or five guys already that were really good on other teams last year that want to try out this year.”

People that want to try out should come in top physical shape and have a solid understanding of the fundamentals of basketball, he said.

“If they just got out of high school, my first instinct is, you should go to college,” he said. “But other than that, be in the best condition you could be in and be fundamentally sound.”

Those who make the team will benefit from Redwine’s 40 years of experience with the game.

“I started out playing high school basketball in Louisville, Ken.,” he said. He then played at the University of Wyoming before going professional in the minor leagues, playing for the Denver Troops as a guard and a shooting forward.

Redwine’s career with the Troops, first as a player and then as a coach, lasted 20 years.
“We had a very successful 20 year run with that team,” he said. “I played against a lot of pros, like Wes Unseld and Micheal Ray Richardson, who played with the Knicks, and Slim Haskins, the former coach for the University of Minnesota.

Redwine started coaching recreational boy’s teams in Denver, then coached high school basketball before moving to men’s teams and then women’s teams.

While coaching women’s basketball, Redwine coached former Globetrotter Joyce Walkers, LaShanna White, an All-American player from Seattle University, and Marvina Kemp, wife of Sonic superstar Shawn Kemp.

Two years ago, Redwine became the assistant coach for the Seattle Mountaineers minor league basketball team, sharing coaching duties with Nathan Mumm.

“Then Nathan called and asked if I would be interested in coaching an expansion team in Everett,” said Redwine, a tall and affable man whose voice is still reminiscent of his southern upbringing. “I said to let me think about it. I thought
about it for about two days and then I said, ‘Sure.‘”

That team was the Everett Explosion, and the team had a very good first year. “It’s important to me that last year we were
conference champions,”said Redwine. “We wanted nothing less.”

But the Explosion couldn’t get use of the Everett Events
Center on enough weekend nights to draw the kinds of
crowds they needed to be profitable, and were forced instead to play on weeknights. About 2,000 people turned up at every game, but that was only half what the team needed to succeed.

So the management looked for a
new home.

Lured by the promise of a new
stadium to be built in the
Monroe area, widely expected
to be located at the Evergreen
State Fairgrounds although
officials are remaining mum
on the eventual location of
the venue, the team decided
to relocate to Monroe.

The team, now called the
Snohomish County Explosion,
will play their first season in
Monroe at the high school,
trading the school board about
$30,000 in upgrades to the
high school gym for use of
the gym on Saturday nights
during the season.

The following year, the team
expects to play in a 3,500-seat arena, which will be built in the area, they believe. The team will provide a great deal of entertainment value to the city, Redwine believes.

“I think people here are going to really enjoy this team,” he said. “It’s a top-notch organization in minor league basketball.”
The game is fast-paced and exciting, he said, as minor league ball only allows one time-out per quarter.

The games also tend to be high scoring, and a team will typically score 125-130 points per game. “And there’s a lot of dunking, stuff like that,” Redwine said, smiling. The team also plans to participate in the community Redwine said.|

“I want to develop a relationship with the schools and with the community to do clinics and camps with the kdis,” he said. “I want us to be more than a basketball team. I want to do mentorship. I’m a stickler on education.”
Redwine himself holds a degree in recreational technology.

Monroe residents will have plenty of opportunity to see their new team play; of 21 games scheduled this year, 14 will be at home.
And as a bonus, the district championships are slated to be held in Monroe in June. Already, excitement is high, said Zack Mennie, Director of Ticketing for the new team.

“We are still selling renewal tickets for season ticket holders from last year until the 15th,” he said. “There’s already a priority list for when we start selling new season tickets.”

The welcome from the community has been gratifying, he went on."

“Interest has been amazing,” he said. “We did a press conference and then we went out and hung posters and we were in the parade and our float got a standing ovation. I’ve not heard any negative comments.”

“Monroe's been awesome," concurred general manager Brad Sturlaugson. “We’ve had incredible support from the city, the school and the chamber of commerce. No city’s chamber of commerce can compare to Monroe's. It's phenomenal."