Boys basketball: Area coaches prove you can go home again

Ever stop and think how many Lorain County coaches are back at their old high school? It's a lot. "To be able to come back to your hometown and coach your home team, and being successful doing it, it's just awesome," said Amherst's Pat Bray. More like home, sweet home. Bray, Mike Fitch at Avon, Brett Larrick at Elyria, Jason Smith at Elyria Catholic, Matt Kielian at Lorain, Jeff Holzhauer at Keystone, Kurt Habermehl at Vermilion, Colin Myers at Firelands, Kurt Russell at Oberlin and, to some degree, Jason Christensen at Clearview have all returned to their roots to coach. "It just shows they have a lot of pride in where they went to high school," said Bray, who played at Amherst from 1985-88. "To have the opportunity to go back to that place and teach the youth of Amherst, for me, it's something I just enjoy doing." "It wasn't anything that I had planned," said Holzhauer, who played for the Wildcats in 1992-95. "To be honest, I wasn't even going to be a high school teacher. I wanted to be a college track coach. I had some job interviews lined up. "It was my senior year (at Muskingum). I was in grad school and I came home and I saw Dave Leffew, our old softball coach, and he asked if I had my degree in education. I said 'yeah, but I don't know if I want to use it. I want to stay in college coaching.'" When Holzhauer's dad died, he decided he wanted to stay close to home. "I talked to our principal and he basically hired me on the spot. He said 'If you want Dave Leffew's government job, it's yours.' I changed my whole outlook and decided to be a high school teacher at the school I graduated from. "I immediately got involved. I was the head cross country coach, the head girls track coach and the eighth grade boys basketball coach. I'm very happy with my decision." Larrick didn't think he'd end up as coach of the Pioneers when he graduated with a business degree at Charleston Southern. He graduated from EHS in 1993 as the all-time career scoring leader with 1,351 points. "After college, I was deciding on whether to get into college coaching or continue to play," Larrick said. "After I came back to help Mike (Walsh) on the girls side, I thought about coaching and it became more of a dream and goal at that time. I went back to school through Ashland to get my teaching license and moved over to be Bob (Walsh's) assistant with the boys." Larrick is on the brink of becoming the school's all-time leader in wins. Going into Friday's game against North Ridgeville, his teams have won 215 games. He's one shy of tying Dale Reichenbach, who was 216-83 during his run from 1953-1966. Smith, who coached at EC in 2010, returned this year. He wasn't hired until just prior to the start of the season and the Panthers have struggled. Still, Smith is optimistic. "I knew coming in it would be a challenge," said Smith, a 2003 graduate. "We lost four starters from the previous season, but I'm happy I came back. I have a great group of players and my focus has been instilling a culture the EC community can be proud of. I'm looking forward to working with the EC community to build a solid program year in and year out." Kielian had no intention of being a basketball coach. He had graduated from Lorain High School in 1993. "It wasn't until I was approached by Bryan Koury with the opportunity to work with the freshmen at Southview High School," Kielian said. "Being a head coach was never a goal or a dream of mine. My purpose was always to work with the youth in some capacity and it just happened to work out this way. I've been extremely blessed with where my path has led me." Kielian took over as Lorain's coach in 2022 when John Rositano retired. Since taking over, Kielian has had the opportunity to coach his two sons. Christensen took over at Clearview when John Szalay retired after 29 years. A graduate of Lorain High, he wanted to come back to Lorain to coach. "I wanted to make an impact on the area I grew up in," he said. "I was blessed to be able to work with Coach Szalay and learn from one of the best." "It's insane (how many have come back)," said Fitch, who played for the Eagles under Jim Baker. "It's awesome, really. My whole family's teachers so I knew I'd be a teacher and a coach." "I just love Vermilion," Habermehl said. "I don't ever see myself moving out of the city. It's a place I grew up and always have called home. Never really had any desire to leave." Contact Tim Gebhardt at (440) 329-7135 or timothygeb@msn.com.