GUILDERLAND — The Ron Osinski era came to an end for Guilderland basketball, but his right-hand man for 26 years, Mike Parks, has stepped up to be head coach. And Parks plans to coach his own way.

Before coming to Guilderland to coach with Osinski 14 years ago, Parks, 52, was the junior varsity coach under Osinski at Schalmont for 12 years. Also, Osinski coached Parks in 1973-74 at Draper High School, which is now Mohonasen.

“That’s a long time,” said Parks, who teaches business at Scotia High School.

Osinski had a .675 winning percentage in over 30 years of coaching varsity basketball in Section 2; he’s a definite lock for the Hall of Fame. Parks told The Enterprise that he and Osinski share a similar basketball philosophy.

“It’s only natural and it has evolved over time,” said Parks. “We’ve done a lot of similar things, offensively and defensively, but I can’t be Coach [Osinski]. I have to be me. We’re best friends, but not identical coaches.”

Dutch co-captains Andrew Platek and Ralph Simeone said that it was weird, hard, and sad to have Osinski step down so suddenly. However, both of them saw it coming.

“When he retired, we looked right to Coach Parks,” Platek said. “We knew he would step up and take the job. We’re following his lead.”

“We knew what was coming next,” said Simeone, a senior. “We were getting the next best thing.”

Going from Schalmont to Guilderland in 2000 altered Parks’s and Osinski’s approach to coaching basketball; the Suburban Council is a stronger league than the Colonial Council. “The depth of the players is different,” said Parks. “At Schalmont, you had three or four players that were really good, but, at Guilderland, there’s seven, eight, or nine kids that can really play.”

Parks said that Guilderland has evolved into a very competitive team. The Dutchmen made the Class AA finals last season.

“Other teams definitely know when Guilderland is on the schedule; it’s a big game,” said Parks. “We’ve had a lot of success, a lot of talented players come through. We’ve been fortunate here.”

The Dutch were able to get to the finals by outlasting Columbia over five overtimes in the semifinals. Guilderland played well against Green Tech in the finals, but Green Tech pulled away at the end. Platek and Simeone said that they think about those two games all of the time.

“That taught us a lot,” said Platek. “It showed our strength and perseverance, and it’s stuck with the team. We would do anything to get back there.”

For Simeone, it was the last time playing with his older brother, Vincent, who was one of four senior starters for the Dutch last year. Billy Floyd, Marc Du Moulin, and Matt Cerutti were the others. Guilderland has lost a significant amount of talent, but current players and Coach Parks don’t seem worried.

“We’ve got some guys coming back,” Simeone said of seniors Markos Abebe, Michael Lia, Pat Moriarty, and Andrew Sentz. “We’ve been there before and we know how hard it is to get there, so we can lead this team back there.”

Guilderland isn’t looking too far into the future, Platek added. “We’ll let the season come to us, step by step, and see if we can win those big games again,” he said.

“We have to form our own identity,” Parks said of Guilderland’s 2014-15 season, which starts at home on Dec. 2 against Bethlehem. The Dutch also have three tough non-league games against Christian Brothers Academy, Troy, and Albany Academy this year. “We don’t want to forget about last season, but we have to look forward,” he said. “We’ll be challenged every night.”

Platek, a junior, seemed to grow a couple of more inches since last season. His explosiveness and sharp shooting will be a focus for opposing defenses; he was dunking the ball with ease during a recent practice. Simeone should take some pressure off of Platek as the shooting guard; Jake Collett and Michael Wine are rising new players; and Abebe and Andrew Sischo, both 6 feet, 8 inches, give Guilderland some extra size and athleticism.

“This team is more than capable,” Parks said. “There’s a good mix of size and speed.”

Fast breaks were a staple for Guilderland last year; Simeone says that running the ball up and down the court is still important. “We need to utilize that,” Platek added.

Parks said that the foundation of Dutchmen basketball won’t change much. What the new coach will have to do, however, is fill some big shoes.

“I have to be my own person and coach to my personality,” Parks said. “There’s some jitters; it’s something different. I’ve been in my routine for 30 years, doing my thing, so I’ll have to force myself to do some things differently. I want to give these guys the best effort that I can.”