BEAVER TOWNSHIP — With his 50th year in basketball now a fading memory, Canfield High School boys’ head coach John Cullen might take a fond look back at this past season and realize it was, in fact, one of the most gratifying of his six-decade coaching career.

Now in his second stint with the program — he is 453-195 overall at CHS — he guided the Cardinals to a 20-6 overall mark and 6-2 All-American Conference mark this season, a 16-game turnaround in the former and three-game improvement in the latter.

With a 617-300 mark in 917 overall games, the fire still burns for one of the area’s most decorated scholastic coaches, a mentor who has also enjoyed success at Badger, Brookfield and South Range in addition to Canfield.

Adapting to the game’s changes over the years has been one key to his success and longevity.

“One of the things I’ve tried to do, as much as I could, was evolve and keep up with the different trends and things that have happened with the game,” Cullen told the Curbstone Coaches during Monday’s meeting at Avion Banquet Center. “As much as you try to do that, it still comes down to the basics. To be consistent year-in and year-out you must defend, rebound, make free throws and take care of the ball.

“Those are our constants, everything else is not. I have tried to improve upon those things which are not and that allows you to help the things that are. During our practices, we try working on those things so we can remain competitive in games we play.”

While at South Range starting in 2013-14, Cullen took a 4-19 team during his first season at the helm and turned them into a record-setting 23-win program, producing their first league title in 18 years.

“When I was at South Range, that first year we didn’t have very much. Only one player was a letterwinner so consequently we had to start from scratch,” he added. “They had some good teams with Dave Purin’s in the early 2000’s but hadn’t been competitive in a while so we needed to start completely over.

“One of the things, and you saw Jarrod Calhoun do this at Youngstown State, is you have to change the culture because losing is an easy habit to get into. I’m not blaming that on anyone or anybody but the bottom line is you have to change it from a losing culture or accepting of lower standards of behavior into just a much higher standard of what you expect out of people. I have always said if you are trying to be second or third then you are going to be fourth or fifth. If you aren’t trying to be first in everything you do then you are making a big mistake.”

In his return to Canfield, Cullen said the players did a wonderful job of raising their goals.

“Last summer, I told our players our goal was to be one of the best, if not the best team in the area by season end,” Cullen said. “If not, then we are making a huge mistake because we have young talent, some talent coming up and depending on our development and level of maturity, we can do that. Heavens to Betsy they did, and I couldn’t believe it. I’m not saying we were the best but we were right up there with everybody else.

“We had just two players who lettered and they didn’t play a very big role on last year’s team. This was a completely different squad so we didn’t have to undo any bad habits. What we had to do was teach these guys how to be their own team and that is pretty much what it came down to. There was a lot to do because coach [Todd] Muckleroy did a lot of good things but we have a lot of differences. Also, it takes a while for kids to adapt and do something different than what they are used to but that is what we tried to accomplish. We didn’t get much time in the summer because I was hired so late. Usually, the summer is a complete second season for us because we play 55 games — we do a lot of individual work and stuff by the end of July. The challenge was fun but very exhausting at age 72 than it was in the early days. It was, however, certainly every bit as rewarding.”

With their loss to Chaney in the district championship this past Saturday, Cullen will now take some time away from the game, doing anything but relaxing.

“You know how it is after you lose the last game of the season. I’m kind of in my cave right now but I don’t have much time to spend there,” he said. “I have a lot of good options and it all depends on if I want to make any major changes in my life or want to get a little rest, recover and get right back into it.

“I’m kind of in between that right now and if the heart tells me what to do then I’ll be right back doing the same thing next year, only better. If my body tells me what to do then I might find myself on the golf course.”

Next Monday, Kevin Brogan, Hollywood Gaming director of marketing will serve as guest speaker.