When you gaze through the banners at Messer Gymnasium and make your way to the 1,000-point scorer list, there’s one last name that stands out.

Adam Harrington closed out his career at Pioneer Valley Regional in 1998 as the Massachusetts Gatorade Player of the Year, amassing a whopping 2,347 points. It’s a number that has held firm as the Western Mass. scoring record for the last 25 years. His younger brother, Kevin Harrington, is third in Panther history, finishing his career in 2000 with 1,624 points.

With that lineage, and in a small community like North County, having Harrington as your last name comes with expectations.

Just ask Kevin Harrington’s daughter, Addie. So far she has been living up to those expectations. Just an eighth grader, she is already in her second year playing varsity ball with the Panthers, and has played a big role in helping Pioneer qualify for the state tournament this winter.

Another big part of the Panthers’ turnaround from missing the tournament a season ago to clinching an automatic bid? Having someone like Kevin Harrington, the former Pioneer star who went on to play Division 2 basketball at Assumption, leading the program.

Kevin Harrington never intended to get into coaching. But when his daughter began playing for Pioneer last winter, Harrington wanted to help out, and began volunteering with the program.

After returning to that team atmosphere a year ago, the coaching itch was there enough to be interested in taking on head duties this winter. But Harrington had some reservations about whether Addie would be OK having her dad leading the program.

“We talked and there was some reservation about it,” Kevin Harrington said. “I told her I had some reservations, too. I knew it could potentially be difficult for the two of us. During the summer workouts I tried to find the line with her and she was finding the line with me. It’s been difficult at times but if you asked me how it’s going now, I’d say it’s going amazing.” 

There were reservations, of course, on Addie Harrington’s side. She wasn’t quite sure what it would be like to have a parent as a varsity coach. 

“I was kind of hesitant at first,” Addie recalled. “I didn’t know what to expect because I never had a parent as a coach before. I didn’t know how it would affect me or if I’d be treated differently but it’s been going good. It’s cool to have my dad be able to do this.” 

Having the pressure of living up to her family name isn’t easy for Addie Harrington, though she welcomes the challenge. She chose the No. 21, the same number her uncle Adam wore at Pioneer, hoping to create a legacy much in the way her dad and uncle did. 

“My dad holds me to a higher standard than most kids,” Addie Harrington said. “We have our moments. I feel the pressure in games when I mess up and I get nervous when people watch me because they expect me to be like my uncle and my dad. I know how hard I have to work to get to where they were.” 

Nobody knows about that pressure quite like Kevin Harrington, who was tasked with following his older brother at Pioneer. He has made a point of letting his daughter create her own legacy, trying to make sure she blazes her own path in Northfield.

“I want her to create her own legacy and not have it be about my brother and myself,” Kevin said. “Everyone has been super welcoming to us. The refs, other coaches, they all have nice things to say and are amazed by her abilities at this moment. I told her over the summer that she had the talent, now it’s all about what she does with it. People are saying nice things but what do you do with that information? Does it make you content or does it make you want to work harder to be even better.” 

When things have gotten tough between the two during the long season, the family has enacted a rule of not talking about basketball at the house.

“It’s hard for her being a 13-year-old eighth grader with her loud, boisterous dad coaching her,” Kevin Harrington said. “Our relationship has been challenged and stressed and we have moments where it isn’t perfect but it always gets better on the back end. We have a rule where we try not to talk about hoops for a day and revisit it in the morning. Then we can talk through it and grow from it.”

Kevin Harrington used last season as an opportunity to learn about the girls on the team and what he would need to do to bring the most out of them.

That baseline has helped the Panthers find success this season. They were 10-7 entering Wednesday’s regular season finale against Putnam, qualifying for both the Western Mass. and MIAA Division 5 tournaments.

“My goal last year was to learn about them and learn what made them tick and why they were there,” Kevin Harrington said. “Everyone plays for a different reason. I wanted to learn what their role would be, how to best communicate with them. I wanted to find out how to get the most out of each of them individually. They’re constantly getting better. It’s exciting to see the progress everyone has made.” 

Kevin Harrington has drawn on his past coaches for inspiration, people like former Pioneer coach Perry Messer, to his old coaches at Assumption. He’s tried to take the things that he thought worked well, and the things that didn’t, to form his coaching style.

“You look toward the coaches you remember and the coaches you want to forget,” Harrington said. “There’s so many pieces to the puzzle. I’ve had great leaders in my life and others where I’ve learned what not to do. You go back to things you didn’t like and realize you don’t want to put anyone in that position.” 

One of the hardest things about coaching for Kevin Harrington has been the lack of complete control that comes with standing on the sideline and not on the court itself. When playing, he could feel the impact he had on the outcome of a game. On the sideline? That’s a different story.

He said he tries to provide all the knowledge he learned while playing the game to his team, hoping those lessons learned during practice translate to games.

“I’ve never not been in control on the court,” Kevin Harrington said. “I’ve been outmatched on the court but standing on the sideline, you have no real way to change the game. It’s been eye opening. I thought it would be different but sometimes you feel helpless over there. Looking back, I wish I knew what I knew now because I would have been a better basketball player. Now I’m trying to take that knowledge and convince a bunch of teenage girls to bust their butts and play hard. It’s a challenge as a coach and a father.”

It helps to have different resources off the court to rely on as well. Kevin Harrington is the mountain operations manager at Mount Snow Resort in Vermont, and being in charge of a group of people has helped him see things in a similar fashion to coaching.

It also helps to have an older brother that played and coached in the NBA to bounce ideas off.

“I use the resource of where my brother is at and what he does for a living,” Kevin Harrington said. “It’s nice to have him as someone to go to to talk through ideas with. It’s not just the x’s and o’s, it’s the mental side of the game. The person holding the basketball is more important than the basketball itself. You want to improve their skills but you also want them to mentally be in a great space so they’re able to learn and grow. You want to support them and create better people, not just better basketball players.”

What Kevin Harrington is trying to get his team to buy in on is the idea that team accomplishments mean more than any individual achievement.

That team-first attitude has helped the Panthers to the double-digit win plateau that results in postseason berths.

“I’m trying to convince them that the hard work will pay off,” Kevin Harrington said. “Our sole focus is to be one big team and to band together as a team. The team accolades we accomplished while I was at Pioneer mean more than any individual accomplishment. Individual accolades only go so far, but you’ll never forget team accomplishments.”

While Kevin Harrington has seen how stressful and challenging it can be to coach, he’s also seen the rewards the job can bring.

From seeing his players make strides, to watching how welcoming the Panther players have been to his daughter, it’s been a thrilling few months for him.

“I didn’t realize how rewarding it would be,” Kevin Harrington said. “It’s not easy to earn the trust and respect of 10 teenage girls.We have a group that wants to go places as a team and it’s a beautiful thing to not have to tell them to work hard because they’re already doing it. It’s been so rewarding to see Addie be welcomed by everyone and see the reward of her relationship with the team. It’s a great group.”

Kevin Harrington said his wife, Kelly, has been instrumental in helping the team, whether it be opening the gym doors early or driving the bus to away games.

“When you’re younger you don’t realize all the things parents do for you,” Kevin Harrington said. “My wife Kelly is amazing with that. She rides the bus for me to games, she’s there early to open the gym for the kids if they want to get shots up early. That support network gives Addison and our team flexibility. Nobody will tell them they can’t go to the gym.” 

With playoff berths punched and the Western Mass. tournament looming next week, Addie Harrington and the Panthers are hoping to show just how much progress they’ve made throughout the year. 

“Our season has been pretty good,” she said. “We know what we have to work toward. We just have to play with our head and have confidence. We can’t go out there looking like a hot mess.”

As for Kevin Harrington, he’s not sure how long he’ll be coaching at Pioneer. Instead, he’s made a point to cherish the time he’s gotten with the team and his daughter. 

“There’s some good emotion being back [at Pioneer],” he said. “The good times outweigh the trying times. It is a beautiful thing. Time flies and you only have so many opportunities to do something like this and get to coach your daughter. It’s such an exciting thing.” 

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