[alwayslearning]

Active Coaches:
1. Will Mckinney-Africentric, 3 state championships
2. Coach Putell(sorry If I spelled it wrong)-Reynoldsburg, 2 straight final four appearances
3. Dave Butcher-Pickerington North, 5 state championships
4. Coach Grimes-Olentangy Orange, experienced coach
5. Dean Washington-2 straight regional appearances
6. Allen Jarrett-Mifflin, a district runner-up in his 2nd year.
7. Coach Feasel-Olentangy Braves, been in 3 straight district championship games
8. Coach Green-Centennial, up and coming coach, knows how to acquire talent
9. Coach Tera-JA, 1 state championship and 2 straight regional final appearances
10. Rick Hauser-Gahanna, 2 regionals in the past 3 years

[3dognites]

Pretty good list. One thing that puzzled me is your comment about the Centennial coach "acquiring talent" yet no such comment on Africentric, who had two starters perviously at Pickerington Central and Harvest Prep, or even Mifflin, which had two starters who previously played at Reynoldsburg. In fact, I only see about two or three teams who didn't have starters who previously played elsewhere.

[bbaau]

Worthington Christian coach- And i like will but pic north coach deserves to be no.1 based on total record .

[alwayslearning]

This post was in no order, but Butcher would be first even though he has no state championships at pick north(2 final 4 apperances). About transfers, yes you are correct as well, but you have to be able to still coach them up and get them use to their system. Requiring talent does not mean he is getting transfers, he is getting kids from the columbus middle schools(open enrollment). Mifflin absolutely has nothing, his transfers were not good, and Africentric always gets transfers but this years transfer did not get them a state championship. The senior who transfered from Independence got him the 3rd one, but over-all, he can coach because kids want to play for him. One more thing, he is winning, but he is suppose too with the talent he has.

[birdie5]

An even better question to rate the best coaches....How many of the coaches listed, could you take away from an open enrollment school and place in a school that doesn't, and they still would be successful?

[bbaau]

Her we go with the open enrollment thing or basically a Afro bashing again. Will some people please get over it. Good coach know manner the team he is dealt with.

[lmavcch3]

I think this list better reflects the better programs in central Ohio. Not arguing that all the coaches listed are good at what they do, but all these programs have talented players year after year. Talented players make even bad coaches better coaches.

Always heard that a great coach will beat you with their players and could also switch teams with you, and beat you with your players. How many coaches listed would you say is able to do that?

bbaau, Why is everything about bashing Africentric? 3 dogs mentioned other open enrollment schools in his post and everything mentioned was true. If the truth hurts, so be it. Let it go!!

[alwayslearning]

I agree with you and with that said, Butcher would still be up there, Dean Washington, Jonathan Alder's coach, and Jarrett from Mifflin. Jarrett from mifflin had absolutely nothing and beat a good hartley team. Thats coaching because if he had Hartley's team, he might have got to the final 4. Will at Africentric can recruit is butt off, but bbaau, you have seen him time and time again get beat by teams who have equal talent and that because he got out-coached. Coach Lee, formal Brookhaven coach will coach circles around him. He lost to Olentangy Orange this year, he can't be hathaway brown, and lost to Northland this year. Go figure!

[bbaau]

Lol, funny I know the coach at mifflin have for many years, and beating hartley was no upset they were and still are a average team just like mifflin is. Wow the thing you don't realize Afro plays for states why others play for city or whatever. Dean is not even in top 20 of coaches . Talk about talent and can't win you think of Dean . Hey coach at centennial has what its takes and will be the power in central Ohio d-2 for years because he knows what's it takes to get there

[alwayslearning]

Yes Africentric does play for states in DIII and DIV as well as he should be. The coach at Mifflin had mudhens, Hartley had 3, 6 footers and a good point guard. He outcoached Hartley and with some talent, he for sure can win the state. He saved dean when he was an assistant with him, but backed to Dean. He has won districts and city in both girls and boys. Name another one in central ohio? Dean is not a great coach, but he is a good coach.

[Phn4life13]

The Centennial coach AQUIRED those players from the previous team, Briggs JV team 2 years ago beat Centennials JV team with 3 of their varsity players. Give the Centennial coach some time and let's see what he brings in!!

Afro bashing- How can we not bash them when you talk like that? and it is AfrIcentric, not AfrOcentric. I think coach Mckinney has done a fine job there as a basketball program. THe only thing I do not like is when he leaves during a game and goes to scout other teams, very unclassy!!

But let me rant and rave about this, open enrollment KILLS CCS from having any chance to get more than 1 team in the regional and state tournaments every year. I did some research about the rosters at Africentric and Eastmoor Acad, if those players would go to their home schools; South, Walnut Ridge and Indepedence would have AMAZING teams.

As for Africentric as a school, when the COLUMBUS TAX dollars were used to open the school, it was told to the tax payers that each kid going to this school would have college classes from CSCC when they graduated if not an associates degree. Has that happened since? NO As for moving the school further East how will that help the kids as they will need to transport to CSCC for classes. Sorry I think it is a joke for CCS to start a school that will take away from the integrity of other schools and then want to ask for a $555 million grant!!! ABSURD!!!

[lefty_5]

Christie Dodane
Former Miami East, Graham and Current Mechanicsburg Coach

2 State Tournament trips with Miami East in the early 2000's

Comes from a great line of basketball with her brother, Paul Hershberger Jr. (Boys HC at Mechanicsburg) and her father, Paul Hershberger Sr (Former:Triad, St. Mary's, Graham, Miami East, Fairlawn, Mechanicsburg HC)

[alwayslearning]

Thanks for that information lefty! Phn4life13, good point of Africentric, doesn't make no sense. On Eastmoor Academy, the lottery hurts them because if they did have there school zone like they did when it was Eastmoor, they would still be nice because they would have the area off of 5th and cassidy, the berwick area, the 43227 and 43213 area. Independence does get talent but their talent left in previous years because of coaching, now with their new coach, they should be fine. South has not been good since the late 1980's and Walnut Ridge has never been good in girls, but there coach that they have now is ok. Centennial was garbage and Coach Green turned something into nothing and will have Centennial in the thick of things in the city-league north division. Bye-Bye to Brookhavens girls, Coach Gettis is nooooo goooood

[RedAuerbach]

Butcher totally changed girls basketball in Central Ohio - very demanding and has high expectations. His total number of district champioships is more impressive than the number of state championships. No other coach in Central Ohio can even touch his accomplishments.

[underdog]

Always a fun and kind of comical topic. A lot of the top coaches are in places that have huge advantages over others. When you throw in open enrollment, "transfers"...well, it doesn't exactly add up to an even playing field.

I can think of some names of coaches that I think do a GREAT job and probably have records that vary from .400-.700 depending on the year. They do with the talent that their school district has and play by the rules. I think of one in particular that the players and parents love. Kids don't worry about some girls coming in and taking their spots from other schools. Those are the kind of coaches that may not appear on a thread like this but are really great for high school sports.

[3dognites]

Given all of those things and despite the fact that I help at a school that is Coach Butcher's primary rival, I must agree with Red. Coach Butcher's offensive and defensive schemes have been revolutionary in this area. I've said it before, but he and others he now competes against have built their success on a basic formula. First, you build a solid and stable youth program, one in which your players have learned the system back in elementary school and have spent several years perfecting it. Secondly, you stress defense. You can cure a lot of problems if you play good defense every game, whether your shooting is off on offense, etc. Finally, every good coach will tell you success comes from having good players. You take care of helping your own players become better on and off the court, giving them opportunities for the future, and even helping those from other schools where the coach is unwilling to provide the time and effort. In this regard, I will use the old baseball movie line, "If you build it, they will come". I'm not talking about questionable local moves, "advantages", etc., but if a family is legitimally moving to the area and they also want to move to an area with not only a good school, but with a sports program that will help their son/daughter build toward the future, your community/school would be the school of choice. College coaches will also become familiar with the skills of a coach when they are scouting, and know how well a prospect was taught to play the game in high school/AAU.

[alwayslearning]

Underdog, it seems like that is a part of life, coaches has to learn to adapt or just do it the right way. Put up the coaches that you think should be up there. I could of put three more up there, but they have moved on. One is Coach Lee for brookhaven, a state championship with twenty something years of coaching. Troy Taylor would be another one. Coached in two final fours. Red, I do agree with you. Butcher is impressive! Lately though, 3dog's crew has been getting them lately because he has not been getting the talent that he is used to getting, but he is indeed a good coach. The best on the list by far. I hate to say this, but Will at africentric is not to far behind. I would love to see what he could do if he were to be in DI.

[SUN&FUN]

3dogs crew hasn't split schools either. Not taking anything away from them - Coach P and staff have done an outstanding job, just stating the facts of life for Westerville, Worthington, Pickerington, Hilliard, Dublin, Olentangy, Etc.

[3dognites]

More "facts of life"... The school districts that split all did so when they were rapidly growing communities of young professionals with school age children. They were able to afford two or three administrative staffs, 2 or 3 sets of coaches, 2 or 3 football stadiums, etc. Reynoldsburg's girls enrollment of 668 makes them about the 35th largest in the state, and third in Central Ohio behind Gahanna and Grove City. Some other schools, primarily in the SW or NE area of the state have a girls enrollment in some cases over 1200. Reynoldsburg's enrollment is within 10 or 20 of the enrollment of Upper Arlington, Dublin Coffman, and Hilliard Davidson (the last 2 despite the split). As for the other districts you cite, Pickerington's combined enrollment would be over 1200 as well, as would Worthington. Westerville, Dublin, Hilliard, and Olentangy would all be between 1400 and 1600 girls, making them 2-3 times the size. Bottom line is that we can't afford to split schools given the additional expense that would create, and if we did, people would complain about the size of our two division 2 schools. At the same time, thanks for the complement about the job the coaches have done.

[underdog]

I would like to know ( I sincerely don't know) if you took the top Pickerington rosters from all these years what the percentage of the starting 5's came through the youth system. It would be an interesting thing to know. How about the percentage of team MVP's?

90%? 75%? 50%?

I'm not dogging anyone. I just think coaches that don't involve themselves in AAU or don't benefit from an unusual amount of move-ins and transfers don't get judged by how well they really can coach.