High school basketball: Longtime Judge Memorial coach Jim Yerkovich retires

SALT LAKE CITY — After 44 years, 634 wins, three state championships, six runner-up finishes and publishing a very "personal and meaningful" book, Judge Memorial basketball coach Jim Yerkovich is ready to retire.

He simply said, it's time.

"My energy is not what it was before, and I think the kids deserve and the job demands full-force energy going forward," said Yerkovich, 67. "It's been a great ride. It's the people that have made the difference. I know that might sound trite, but it's not. It's all about people."

Open-heart surgery, nerve damage in his right hand as a result of the surgery and two knee replacements have effectively slowed him down physically. Mentally, he's fine. He understands the game he loves as well as ever.

Yerkovich made his retirement decision official when he informed his players after school on Tuesday, but he's not done coaching them just yet.

Even though Yerkovich has paced the sideline in Judge's gym for the last time, his retirement isn't official. In two weeks, Judge's team will head to Cumberland, Md., to participate in the 50th anniversary of the Alhambra National Catholic Invitational Tournament. It's Judge's 13th tourney trip, and Yerkovich can't wait. He knows his team won't be able to compete with some of the elite Catholic teams in the country, but that's just fine with him.

Winning was never what it was all about. That's what he told his team after last Saturday's 3A state championship loss to Wasatch.

"When the smoke clears, they will realize there was a lot more to this experience than the final score of the state championship game," Yerkovich said.

Judge Memorial will likely announce Yerkovich's replacement on Wednesday, and he's confident the job will remain in-house with one of his assistant coaches. He certainly hopes that's the case so his replacement can carry on the "WE" philosophy the program has adhered to for the past 30 years.

In 2003, Yerkovich penned that philosophy in a book, "WE: a Model for Coaching and Christian Living." He calls it the highlight of his coaching career.

Yerkovich summed up the core of the "WE" philosophy in his book by saying, "coaches can teach players how to play a game at the same time they teach them about life."

That philosophy pervaded his program for 30 years, and in conjunction with some fiercely loyal assistant coaches, they were the primary reasons Yerkovich loved coaching high school basketball for 44 years.

"He values the six runner-ups as much as he values the three state championships," said assistant coach Dan Del Porto. "If it was just about winning, there's no way he would've lasted 44 years."

Del Porto graduated from Judge in 1985, and has served as an assistant coach to Yerkovich in some capacity ever since.