[The RingLeader]

von kennell n ford from tusky valley/dover/cambridge! hav maybe 9 or 10 state apperences in last 20 plus yrs. !

[alwayslearning]

Coach Bruce Howard! His practices were amazing. He preached defense and you played it for 32 min. Coach Howard was a class act and did what he did, to help kids improve and become better people. He was more than just a coach, but a mentor and friend. He made AAU what it is now for the inner-city kids. They named a recretion in his honor which was known a northeast. RIP coach howard

[TitanMan24]

Randy Montgomery Triway, Hoover
Steve Smith Orrville

[lefty_5]

Paul Hershberger Senior - Mechanicsburg, Fairlawn, St. Mary's, Miami East, Graham, Triad

[Bill32]

Rick Brook. Former Sebring coach.

[The RingLeader]

no response to ford/camb or von kennell/dover ? those guys were the best in eastern district for yrs! von kennell is still going strong at a football school !

[conkfl]

(I grew up in Indiana --- moved to the Dayton Area in 1970)

Even in Indiana we heard about Paul Walker from Middletown! I personally witnessed Dayton Dunbar (Coach Pullian) vs. Upper Sandusky (Coach Diebler --- pure class!). I know Willard had a string of GREAT Teams a few years back (Willard vs. Genoa had a string of 4 or 5 Regional Championships decided by a point or 2 every year!) I have only heard about the Barberton Magics --- "Midgets beating Bigs, over several years"! Even though I may not know all these Coach's names, I appreciate their Coaching Talent!

[3dognites]

We all remember those from our area and our era. There have been some great coaches listed on this post. For purposes of going Old School (and no, I don't mean the 80s and 90s), I would start with these three: Vince Chickerella Columbus Linden-Mckinley, etc; Charlie Huggins at the schools previously listed, and Gene Ford at Cambridge. Amazing how the last two also had very successful and outstanding sons join the coaching profession!

[jrccshoe]

Another great coach who really isn't from Ohio but influenced so many coaches IN Ohio was Ed McCluskey from Farrell PA. He coached from 1949 - 1977 and won 7 state titles. He spent a lot of time with Coach Huggins helping with summer camps, etc.

[bballdad]

Originally Posted by conkfl

(I grew up in Indiana --- moved to the Dayton Area in 1970)

Even in Indiana we heard about Paul Walker from Middletown! I personally witnessed Dayton Dunbar (Coach Pullian) vs. Upper Sandusky (Coach Diebler --- pure class!). I know Willard had a string of GREAT Teams a few years back (Willard vs. Genoa had a string of 4 or 5 Regional Championships decided by a point or 2 every year!) I have only heard about the Barberton Magics --- "Midgets beating Bigs, over several years"! Even though I may not know all these Coach's names, I appreciate their Coaching Talent!

I believe Bob Haas was the coach at Willard during the 70s, 80s and into the 90s. They went to 3 Final 4s but never advanced to the championship game. I believe they won 60 some regular season games in the late 70s and early 80s.
Jack Greynolds was the coach at Barberton during the "Magic Show". Carter Scott and the Bodnar twins were the stars of that team.

[Eagle75]

Back in the day I liked Jene(spelling) Davis at Linden McKinley, Gene Millard at Bexley, Russ Gregg at Whitehall. All had long or successful careers. All-time greats, I don't know, but worth a mention.

[Stumblebum]

I can't recall his name, but, the guy who coached at New Knoxville when they won the state tournament 3 or 4 years ago, Stiverson, who coaches at Logan Elm now, and Van Matre are all excellent. Arch Justice, of Portsmouth Clay, Ozzie Osborne, of Gallipolis and Henderson (Heckie) Thompson, of Western Pike. I would put my money on ANY of these guys.

[conkfl]

Certainly Coach Petrocelli at Archbishop Alter High, in Kettering, deserves some mention: He's the ONLY Coach their boys have ever had, and has won
several Ohio D-2 State Titles! Even in "down" years, Alter is ALWAYS TOUGH
to beat! (Yes, I'm a Dayton Chaminade-Julienne Fan, but certainly have noticed how well their Teams are always coached!)

[Pilot99]

Hats off to GREAT Perry Reese. Charlie Huggins Awesome. Don't forget Mark Huffman at little Skyvue in the 80's. Reese and he battled for that regional for 3 or 4 years and very similar situations. Small players, small town, BIG hearts. Great coaches.

[Dehza]

Originally Posted by lefty_5

Paul Hershberger Senior - Mechanicsburg, Fairlawn, St. Mary's, Miami East, Graham, Triad

Agreed!

[cantdunk]

Perry was a great coach, and I believe Hiland beat Andreas, Mallernee, and company at Hiland, but it was a close game in 1999. I'm pretty sure the Pirates returned the favor in Sugarcreek. Andreas, Mallernee, Schrock, and B. Numbers all graduated that year. It doesn't surprise me that Hiland beat Garaway by 20 in 2000. All of those guys were gone.

The great thing about Perry is that his legacy and influence lives on. It would be interesting to see an alternate reality where he never came to Hiland. I wonder if the boys and girls teams would be as successful?

I have amazing memories of what Coach did with his runts, but my favorite was around 99-00 he had a starting 5 at or under 5'11. The post was 5'10". The Garaway Pirates had a college line up that year in terms of size with Andreas, Mallerne, Renner, etc. They were something like 6'10", 6'8", 6'6", 6'4" and 6' - and all those guys were very good players. Hiland beat them in Berlin by 20 with full court pressure, fast break points, and 3's. On paper there was no way Hiland should have even been on the court with them. That's a great coach right there.[/quote]

[alwayslearning]

Im so shocked that no Columbus people are agreeing with me about Coach Howard of Brookhaven, a mifflin grad. To me, he life was cut short early or you would still hear of Brookhaven and they would have some more state titles. 3dogs, the coach from Linden Mckinnley was good, they beat my high school in the district in the 90's, but lost to coach Ford from Cambridge which you mentioned as well. Come on Columbus people, say something!

[bbaau]

I agree with everything you stated in your post about coach Howard. He was my mentor and I had the opportunity to go to as many practices as I wanted and went on many aau trips with the all Ohio crew back in the day. There are programs who took his blue print and are doing well today .

[edisoncharger7]

best coach i would say was bob walsh at lorain clearview in the mid 7os when he had larry harris and the fortner kid and won the state championship,and jim lawhead of lorain catholic(closed)who had a bunch of talent back in the mid to late 70s.

[Wilbur Flatch]

Steve Comstock at River Valley. The dude has coached for more than 25 years and has a career record below .500. With a record like that, he has to be an awesome coach.