Of Heumann Interest: Father, son coaches lead teams to district tournament

LANSING, Mich. (WILX) - As the district basketball tournament enters round two Wednesday, two area coaches have teams with a good shot at making the final four in their respective divisions, and they happen to be a father and son coaching at different schools.

Matt Seidl is the head coach at Olivet, while his son Derek Seidl coaches at Napoleon. Both teams are having great seasons, with a record of 21-and-1, but they won’t be playing against each other in the postseason due to being in separate divisions.

Despite coaching at different schools, the Seidl family room is often filled with two coaches on the floor moving quarters around on a homemade mini-basketball court that they call the board.

The board has accumulated a lot of mileage over the years and has become a bond between the two coaches in the same family.

Derek, who is in his third year coaching at Napoleon at the age of 27, said that coaching is something he was always interested in, and he never felt forced into it by his father. Meanwhile, Matt has coached somewhere in five straight decades and is in his third season as head coach at Olivet.

Although they are both similar in system, Matt said that Derek has the gift of letting things go, unlike him at his age, where he describes himself as a “nut job.” However, he is still proud of his son and believes that he will be coaching a lot longer than him.

As both coaches lead their teams to the district basketball tournament, they will always be matching wits on and off the court.

Subscribe to our News 10 newsletter and receive the latest local news and weather straight to your email every morning.

Copyright 2023 WILX. All rights reserved.