State girls basketball tournament to move to Dayton next year (VIDEO, UPDATED)

The Ohio High School Athletic Administration is moving the girls basketball state tournament from Columbus to Dayton the next three years, a move that got positive reviews Tuesday from several Lorain County coaches. "I'm sitting here with my son-in-law who's the girls coach at Columbia, Corey Taylor, and he's been at Dayton and said it's a really nice facility. I've never been down there," said Elyria Catholic coach Eric Rothgery, who has led the Panthers to the Division III state tournament two of the last three years. "It's a long way to go, but the Ohio High School Athletic Association puts on probably the best state tournament in the country so I'm sure it'll be first class all the way. Wherever you go it's for a state championship, so I guess it doesn't really matter if it's Columbus, Cleveland or Dayton." The event will be held outside the state capital for just the second time. It was held at St. John Arena from 1976-99 and Value City Arena from 2000-18, with the one-year exception being when it was held at the University of Akron in 1986. The University of Dayton Arena has hosted OHSAA tournament games, the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament and 125 NCAA Tournament games, more than any other facility in the nation. It also serves as the home arena for the Flyers' men's and women's basketball teams. "We are very excited to sign a three-year agreement for our member schools to experience UD Arena," OHSAA executive director Jerry Snodgrass said in a release Tuesday morning. "Southwest Ohio loves and supports basketball and the people at the University of Dayton have made it clear that they really want this state tournament on their campus. We believe that we have found a great home for the girls basketball state tournament." The arena recently completed the largest renovation project in university history. The 13,435-seat capacity venue, which opened Dec. 6, 1969, has been the opening site for the March Madness tournament since 2001. "The same ingredients that make UD Arena the ideal place for the NCAA First Four — community support and excitement for the game of basketball, our facilities, staff and tournament hosting experience — will help create lifelong memories for the young women who come to Dayton to play in the state tournament and their school communities," UD Arena executive director Scott DeBolt said. "I know they have softball and baseball (state tournaments) in different areas," Lorain coach Mark Feldmann said. "Not everything is in Columbus all the time. Look at football, volleyball … the different tournaments are in different places around the state, so it's not that big of a deal to me." Feldmann has been to UD Arena several times to watch former Titans star Alex Harris play from 2016-18. Harris played for the Flyers for two seasons after playing for Penn State during her freshman and sophomore seasons. "It's a nice facility," Feldmann said. "It's a little more quaint, it's smaller. With the girls tournament not bringing in as many people, it might be nice." Midview athletic director Dan May said the lone drawback for Northeast Ohio teams would be the longer drive, but even that is probably not going to be much of an issue. "Anyone who makes it to the final four is so excited anyway, they'd travel to Tennessee if they had to," he said. "From my perspective, having been involved in NCAA events and OHSAA events, anytime you get someone who wants to host one of those, it's great. The fact that the University of Dayton has embraced that tournament is going to make it special for the girls involved." May said nostalgia could be the only other minor concern. "I think some people initially may be sad that it's not in Columbus, especially the people that have a history of going there — whether their sibling may have played there, or their parents — but after a year or two I think it'll be just the normal home," he said. "They move state finals in football back and forth all the time. It's not that big a deal. If you get to that level it might take a little extra planning. You may be used to certain hotels you deal with if you are someone who goes there every year, but those are great problems to have it you get to that level." The 2021 girls basketball state tournament is scheduled for March 11-13, and the boys basketball state tournament is scheduled a week later, March 18-20, at St. John Arena in Columbus. The boys state tournament currently has no host site for 2022. The talk of where the winter tournaments will be played was a welcome topic of discussion Tuesday as this year's postseason was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. "I'd just be happy if they have a state tournament next year," Rothgery said. Contact Shaun Bennett at 329-7137 or sbennett@chroniclet.com. Like him on Facebook and follow him @ShaunBennettct on Twitter.