This year’s coaching honoree is no stranger to Trumbull County scholastic basketball.
His teams were no strangers to the success that they enjoyed under his direction.
A 1990 graduate of Hubbard High School, he earned his undergraduate degree from Youngstown State University in 1995.
A true student of the game, he became the head coach at Champion High School prior to the 1999-2000 season and over the next four years, led the Golden Flashes to a 58-31 overall mark, a .652 winning ledger.
He took over the reins of the McDonald High School boys program at the start of the 2003-04 campaign and over the next 16 years – he served as head coach from the 2003-04 to 2010-11 seasons, stepped away from the program for a year then returned in time for the 2012-13 season, staying until the 2019-20 season – led the Blue Devils to an impressive 328-67 mark in 395 frays, a sparkling .830 winning percentage.
Overall, in 484 total games between Champion and McDonald High Schools, he guided his teams to a 386-98 mark and a sparking .800 winning percentage.
His coaching record includes 10 conference championships, six district titles, nine district runner-up finishes, a regional runner-up appearance, four undefeated regular seasons and a 63-game regular season winning streak, which remains the Trumbull County high water mark for consecutive regular season wins.
In all, he coached four, first-team All-Ohio players in James Beedle (2005), Bradley Hinton (2007), Mathias Tayala (2011) and two-time recipient Zach Rasile in both 2019 and 2020.
His son, Zach (2016-17 to 2019-20), was the 2020 Ohio “Player of the Year” and a finalist for Ohio’s “Mr. Basketball” in both 2019 and again in 2020.
A crowning moment in his career came when his son scored the 3,000th point of his storied high school career to become just the second person all-time to accomplish that feat in the state.
His philosophy of coaching is quite simple.
“I believed the keys to success in basketball were: 1)-outworking our opponents, during both the season and in the off-season, and 2)- accepting and performing your individual role on the team,” he said prior to his induction. “I was fortunate during my 20 years as a head coach to have players who worked hard and bought in. That ultimately led to success on the court. My coaches and I believed that encouraging hard work and a strong work ethic would not only help the players have success, but also lead to success in life after basketball. I was also fortunate to have parents who allowed me to coach their children and supported our program.”
His personal highlight was an easy one on which to reflect.
“Over my 20 years, I had outstanding players both on and off the court. My personal highlight was being able to coach my son, Zach, and him having the team and individual success that he had in his high school career. He ended his scholastic career as the all-time wins leader in McDonald basketball history and was the second leading scorer all-time in Ohio basketball history with over 3000 points.”
He has served as a teacher at Champion High School from 1997 to the present.
He is married to the former Jackie Hannon and they are the proud parents of three children: Bethany (24), Zachary (22) and Maria (19).
They reside in McDonald.
