Coach Larry McKenzie is back in the game (and four more things we learned at a banquet in his honor)

The word "retirement" got thrown around a lot Sunday night, when friends and colleagues and collaborators gathered in a Golden Valley ballroom to honor Larry McKenzie.

Then, after speeches were made and videotaped testimonials played and plaques presented, McKenzie threw this out: He'll be back in the gym soon.

How soon, Coach?

"Next week," McKenzie said, grinning.

McKenzie, who in 24 years as a head coach won six state championships with stops at Minneapolis North, Minneapolis Henry and Holy Angels, will become an assistant coach for Park Center, the defending Class 4A boys' champion. Practice officially begins next Monday.

He'll work under James Ware, whose teams have reached the state tournament five times in seven seasons and won the title last year, defeating Wayzata 58-53 in the final.

McKenzie was last an assistant coach in 1996, at Henry under Efrem Smith.

"It's been a long time," he said. "I'm going in with the notion of helping him out but not necessarily trying to duplicate what we did before."

The focus will be more on mentoring and less on basketball, McKenzie said, and he'll be mentoring coaches as much as players: "James said to me, 'I just want you around, to pick your brain.' "

McKenzie, 65, announced his retirement in July, ending a nine-season run at North that included state titles in 2016 and 2017. He was inducted into the Minnesota High School Basketball Hall of Fame this year and has a career record of 481-166. Before North, he became the first boys' coach to win four basketball state titles in a row, at Henry from 2000 to 2003. He was the first coach to win multiple state titles at two different schools.

He doesn't expect assistant coaching to set as many limits as head coaching did, and he illuminated that with references to grandchildren and golf. "It'll be nice to be able to go somewhere warmer during the winter if I want," he said.

McKenzie won't limit his mentoring to Park Center. He's especially interested in coaching coaches and is at work developing ways to do that.

"What if we can teach 10 coaches in Minneapolis and 10 coaches in St. Paul to impact kids?" he said. "We can reach 600 kids instead of 60."

'Simply amazing'

The crowd honoring McKenzie on Sunday at the Golden Valley Metropolitan Ballroom & Clubroom ran about 200 deep, and faces from his past were prominent in the room and on the video screen.

The banquet began with a viewing of a 30-minute documentary by Tony D'Antonio, "Larry McKenzie: The Last Season of a Living Legend," made last season at North.

McKenzie said the gathering helped him realize what he has achieved.

"When you coach, you often don't know beyond the wins and losses what kind of impact you are having," he said. "This is simply amazing."

Aligned once more

McKenzie will be among familiar faces at Park Center. Trent Witz, who served as his director of basketball operations at North, now holds that title at Park Center. Witz was along for all nine seasons and both championships at North and thinks he's seeing another champion — that would be a back-to-back champion — at Park Center.

He wasn't a bit subtle about it Sunday.

"We have the potential to be an undefeated state champion," he said.

Still No. 1

Nick Anderson made it to Sunday's banquet. He's the team manager to whom McKenzie fulfilled a promise at Holy Angels during the 2012-13 season. Given a few seconds of playing time, Anderson, who deals with cerebral palsy, made a three-pointer and caused pandemonium.

Anderson and McKenzie have stayed in touch, making public-speaking appearances together.

"He's been a father figure," Anderson said.

And more: "He gave me the top moment of my life."

The son shines

Lawrence McKenzie, Larry's son — a member of the four state champion teams at Henry, former Gophers player, musician and still involved in basketball with Legacy Hoops Academy in the Twin Cities — spoke both from the stage and aside from it about his dad.

He indicated that when he was playing, his dad would initiate occasional discussions about the previous game. How occasional? On the way home from the game, before bed, at breakfast, on the way to school and at practice that day. He said his mistakes in practice led to extra sprints, but others got away with mistakes.

And he said he holds no grudges.

"Where I grew up there were a lot of obstacles, a lot of opportunities to go in a negative direction," he said. "If it wasn't for him, I could have done that. I call him my life vest."