OLIVESBURG — The boys basketball season was only about a month from tipping off before he officially got the job, but the late start hasn’t bothered John Kurtz or the Crestview Cougars.
Kurtz is back for his second tour of duty with Crestview after helming the program for three seasons from 2008 to 2011. The Cougars are 12-5 after Tuesday’s 67-58 win over Mansfield Christian — a program Kurtz guided from 2011 to 2018 in between stops at Crestview.
So what lured him back to the bench?
“I really enjoyed my years at Crestview. I enjoyed the people and the community,” said Kurtz, who is closing in on his 350th career coaching victory in a career that included a successful stop at Temple Christian. “That’s how I ended up back here. I really like the kids that I have right now.”
Kurtz inherited a program that had fallen on hard times. The Cougars were a combined 12-36 in two seasons under Dave Pellerite, whose contract was non-renewed in September. Kurtz wasn’t officially hired until late-October — a week before the start of practice.
“It makes your job a lot tougher,” Kurtz said of the late start. “I was learning kids’ names when we should have been running offensive sets.
“These kids have helped me because they decided to come and work hard.”
Having one of the most prolific scorers in program history leading the charge hasn’t hurt, either. Senior guard Evan Hamilton became just the third player in school history to score 1,000 career points late last month.
“Coach has a way of getting us to play as hard as we can,” said Hamilton, who scored 16 points in Tuesday’s win at Mansfield Christian. “He’s a great coach.”
Hamilton and the rest of Crestview’s five-man senior class was in the second grade when Kurtz guided the Cougars to a 17-6 record and a berth in the Division III district tournament in 2011. Crestview has just three tournament wins in the nine years since then and hasn’t been beyond the sectional final.
“These kids don’t remember that,” Kurtz said of his first stint. “They haven’t won a lot of games for a long time. They have the hunger, but not the understanding. There are a lot of steps and we’ve made progress.”
Crestview’s 12 wins are the most since 2017. One more victory will give the Cougars more wins since the Kurtz-led 2011 team.
“We’re a 12-win team and we’ve still got games to go,” Kurtz said. “It has been a good year.”
The Cougars are tied for third with Norwalk St. Paul in the Firelands Conference championship chase at 7-4. Crestview hasn’t finished in the top half of the FC standings since 2016 and managed just two Firelands Conference wins last year.
Playing meaningful games into February has been the exception instead of the rule at Crestview, but Hamilton welcomes the challenge.
“It means a lot to us to still have big games coming up,” Hamilton said. “We’re playing well and that should get us ready for the tournament.”
Kurtz agreed.
“There is a lot for these kids to look forward to,” Kurtz said. “These kids have only won 12 games in the last two years. For them this is an all new experience and it’s exciting to see them enjoy the process.”
