Best Coaches NE Ohio
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GoingCoastal
Active member
Eric Flannery of St. Edward is approaching 500 wins (493), including two state championships.
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Ohiohshoops3
Member
Coach Joyce at Akron St v. Teams are always solid and play great basketball. People will focus on it being a private school but reality is he has done a terrific job developing players and young men.
Arcy26
Active member
I would say Chet Mason, but I don’t want to sound like our good pal Brusharc1986 as he has to prove it first with Postseason success. I do believe once he is able to break through and go deep into the postseason he will be seen as a great coach. Still early in his coaching career, and still a great guy!
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Ohiohshoops3
Member
Hence why I said what I said. I figured someone would make a comment like this and after your public school comment I’m not shocked it was you.
Football Fan 1
Well-known member
Pot calling the kettle black…no? You talk about Mentor and Krizancic….yet in 2021 he recruited two senior transfers (Waag-VASJ and Key-Euclid). Pretty good recruiting going on at Mentor
Wrong, both transferred in on their own. Waag
was cut from VASJ & key,s parents wanted their son to have an opportunity to further his chances of a college scholarship. Look back at the Mentor basketball successes over the years & you will see most all players grew up within the schools system & youth basketball program. Please gett your facts straight.
was cut from VASJ & key,s parents wanted their son to have an opportunity to further his chances of a college scholarship. Look back at the Mentor basketball successes over the years & you will see most all players grew up within the schools system & youth basketball program. Please gett your facts straight.
Football Fan 1
Well-known member
Right….just like the kids come to St V for the same reason. Parents want their kids to further their chances…get additional opportunities/exposure. You can’t have it both ways. Feel bad for the 2 players that grew up in the Mentor that had their playing time taken away by two senior recruits
Football Fan 1
Well-known member
Waag played his junior year at VASJ. Get your facts straight. He wasn’t cut. He also played AAU with Luke C.
Bull GreenDog
Well-known member
Mark Kinsley has well over 300 wins as the head coach at Green. He should reach 400 in a couple of years.
Tom McBride at Lake has 3 league titles and 3 district titles. He might have over 300 wins or at least very close.
Tim Debevec has led Jackson to the state championship in 2017 and three other district titles in 2014, 2018 and 2021. His win % is probably around 70%
Tom McBride at Lake has 3 league titles and 3 district titles. He might have over 300 wins or at least very close.
Tim Debevec has led Jackson to the state championship in 2017 and three other district titles in 2014, 2018 and 2021. His win % is probably around 70%
There’s 2 brothers that start at Mentor currently that started at Riverside last season. The Ioppolo‘s. Kids can shoot. But I do agree for the most part, Mentor’s success in hoops has mainly been home grown talent and Coach Krizancic is easily one of the best in the state.
First of all, I’m going to exclude every coach who can routinely recruit their rosters with talent, both private and public. Not that some of them aren’t excellent basketball coaches, but their advantages in securing talent gives them an edge.
That being said, I go with Coach K from Mentor and Joe Mackey from Brunswick.
That being said, I go with Coach K from Mentor and Joe Mackey from Brunswick.
jimmywan22
Active member
I have no idea if Dru Joyce can actually coach. No one does. He has superior talent than everyone else, and that talent is absolutely recruited to go to St. V's and play basketball. If you think otherwise, you are either a St. V's hoops fan, or just blind. They operate as a college basketball program in a high school setting.
pete penny
Member
High school basketball just isn't what it used to be.
I just don’t understand how some of these kids can go to a different school and play hoops seemingly every year if they wish. The transfer rules must be extremely loose.
Ohiohshoops3
Member
I think you would be shocked at the number of people who would then be removed from the list.
I would not be shocked. Between HS and AAU basketball it’s like the Wild West.
shadow1479
Member
Chris Hassinger of Medina is one of the best on and off the court!
Obviously Joyce can coach. You don't have as many rings as he does without being able to coach.
That is like saying no one knows if Chuck Kyle can coach HS football. Just silly.
Not every player on SVSM roster is recruited. Many players and families make extraordinary effort and sacrifice to get their kids into SVSM..and this is coming from a public school guy.
CleveHoopFan08
Active member
Am wondering if he gets out coached a lot but is bailed out by extraordinary talent? Maybe not? Just thought I'd pose the question . . .
But I'd be curious if a lot of public school coaches could win with these teams he has assembled. I say yes, but who really knows. I see a lot of public school coaches win with a lot less talent, obviously can't win the ST like Joyce can but come on he usually has what 3-4 D1 players plus D2? I guess if you switched Joyce to a D2 public I bet he wouldn't be winning titles.
Irish60
Well-known member
Whenever there is a thread like this the conversation typically turns pretty quickly to referendum on Coach Dru. And in every one of these my reply is the same. Coach Dru has gotten to be a much better coach as the years have passed. In the beginning I'd agree that he was very inexperienced and got by with amazing talent. But, then again, whoever coached LeBron James would have won more than they lost! Still, Coach Dru did not sit on his laurels. He put together a veteran assistant coaching staff around him and he learned from them. IMO he is a much better X's and O's coach now than he was several years ago. As far as coaching a talented roster is concerned, IMO his worst coaching job came with perhaps his most talented roster since the LeBron years. The teams with VJ King were arguably more talented than any other Irish squad post-LeBron. However, they weren't a very good "team". IMO he learned a lot from that team and has been a much better coach since. As far as his teams are concerned, they play hard, they play disciplined, they play defense and they play together. With as much talent as is on those rosters, egos very rarely come into play; especially in the last 7-8 years. As far as his ability to coach, I get the argument that "anyone could win when you have superior talent". But consider the schedule they play. When they are playing Centerville, or Gahanna Lincoln, or Oak Hill, or a good portion of their schedule, the talent level between them and their opponents is pretty even in my estimation. And in those games, Coach Dru and the Irish hold their own. So, is Coach Dru one of the best in the area? I don't know what metric you use to answer that question. He wins. He wins against tough competition. His players buy into his program. His players move on and are successful. And his players, almost to a man, have nothing but good things to say about him. I do know that he'll never get his due, and I'm thinking he's just fine with that. But, is he one of the most successful coaches in the area. By any standard, the answer is unquestionably yes.
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I totally agree with your comments. I would rate the following top 5 in no particular order: Joyce, Krizancic, Flannery, Mackey, DeCesare
I like the part of "he wins against tough competition ". He knows the talent he has and he schedules up. I also think its sometimes harder to coach when you do have all that talent....between the different personalties ( players always be "the guy" on the team) and expectations of always winning.
Irish, I agree with your assessment, Joyce is a very good coach, very good person and very good role model. The knock, not really a knock, is he gets to play thru the tourney with a stacked deck. I mean going through your Nortons, Polands, etc. come on. I compare it to Hobans football that never sniffed a title then came a coach that knew exactly what he could get away with and bam, same thing, very good coach but how good? We'll never know but both have more D1 college athletes in any one year than some good D1 HS teams have in a 20 year span and it just doesn't happen on accident and please don't tell me they wouldn't be D1 college players without this great development.
Irish60
Well-known member
I've never been so concerned about the post season. In basketball, as well as football, I'm much more a fan of the regular season than the post season. I do agree part of the knock on him is that the Irish play in the D2 tourney most years. However, that's not on him. What he can control is the regular season schedule, and he strives to make it as challenging as possible; which is another reason players come to Maple Street. The flip side of that is that come playoff time, the Irish will have faced 10-15 teams better than any team they'll play in the tournament with the possible exception of the state title game. Is that fair? Should the Irish play in the D1 tourney? Does Coach Dru have any say over that? IMO the Irish should play in the D1 tourney. IMO every team should be slotted in the post season taking into account the schedule they play in the regular season. To me, that would be fair to use "strength of schedule" as a metric. And I don't think Coach Dru or the Irish would mind one bit. Would they have as many state titles if they were D1? Likely not. But who knows, maybe more. For example, a few years back likely the ONLY team in the state that was going to beat the Irish was that great John Glenn team from New Concord; who did in fact beat them in a classic.
Great discussion on Coach Dru Joyce. He is an entirely different coach than the guy who probably cost St V a couple of titles soon after LeBron left. Although there are many examples to back up this claim, look no further than the St V vs Gahanna Lincoln game a few weeks ago. St V was down by 20 early on and the game looked like a complete mismatch. Coach Joyce adjusted his game plan and methodically worked his team back in the game. Who would have thought that pressing a Sean Jones led team would help you win a game? Eventually, St V wore Gahanna down and won the game. This never would have happened until about 5-6 years ago.
As mentioned above, coaching extremely talented players and teams has unique challenges built into it. Most coaches who have never coached players and teams of this caliber would fail miserably if they were thrown into a locker room of talent like St V has. Those players and teams have personal and team goals that greatly exceed what most lesser talented players and teams have. It is an added pressure that coaches of lesser talented teams do not face.
No matter what anyone thinks of St V and Coach Dru Joyce, you have to respect the schedule they play. They consistently play the toughest schedule in Ohio. The level they are playing at now compared to where they were earlier in the season is not even comparable. This is consistent with what Coach Joyce's teams have been like the last several years. As a fan, I do wish they were in the D1 tourney as they were a few years ago (runner up finish). They will walk over almost every D2 team they face. That is probably out of their control though. St V is a much smaller school than the D1 catholic schools (Iggy, Eds, Moeller, X, etc)
As mentioned above, coaching extremely talented players and teams has unique challenges built into it. Most coaches who have never coached players and teams of this caliber would fail miserably if they were thrown into a locker room of talent like St V has. Those players and teams have personal and team goals that greatly exceed what most lesser talented players and teams have. It is an added pressure that coaches of lesser talented teams do not face.
No matter what anyone thinks of St V and Coach Dru Joyce, you have to respect the schedule they play. They consistently play the toughest schedule in Ohio. The level they are playing at now compared to where they were earlier in the season is not even comparable. This is consistent with what Coach Joyce's teams have been like the last several years. As a fan, I do wish they were in the D1 tourney as they were a few years ago (runner up finish). They will walk over almost every D2 team they face. That is probably out of their control though. St V is a much smaller school than the D1 catholic schools (Iggy, Eds, Moeller, X, etc)
Irish60
Well-known member
This is why I am becoming more and more of a fan of Sencire Harris. He came to STVM as a sophomore and he was highly touted and a heckuva player even back then. But, to a certain extent, he took a back seat to Lunden McDay in his sophomore year and to Malaki Branham as a junior. He could have been a distraction. But, instead, you never heard a word of complaint from him about "me". Rather, he played hard, bided his time and the team is now his. But, even so, even as the leader and the best player, he has a "team first" attitude. He's been fantastic.
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