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Reese steps down as Anna girls coach

Sunday, 30 March 2008

ANNA — Anna head girls basketball coach Jeff Reese, who won 75 percent of his games during a five-year career, has resigned as the head coach of the Lady Rockets, he said Sunday night.

Reese said he went from being “Jeff Reese the coach” when he started out, to “Jeff Reese the father” the last few seasons, and that change in priorities led to his decision to turn over the reins to someone else.

“I have two young kids (ages 1 and 3), and there are just some things I don’t want to miss out on,” Reese said in explaining his decision. “I know there are some coaches who are in the same situation and they handle it. But I’m going to go the other way.

“I told the girls, I will continue to support them and go to their games. It’s just that from now on, I’ll have my kids with me,” he added.

Reese had an outstanding run as head coach of the Lady Rockets, finishing with a career record of 89-30. He was 16-9 his first season, followed by marks of 13-8, 19-6, 24-1 and 17-6 this past season.

He steps down after what many might consider his crowning achievement in coaching, leading the Lady Rockets to a second straight county championship despite losing enormous talent from the 24-1 team of the previous season.

“As a coaching staff, we thought we could win the county again, but losing what we did, there were a lot of question marks,” Reese said of the just-completed season. “Kelli Barhorst was the only player we had returning. But we had some good young talent and the girls really came together.”

Reese coached for six years in all, and actually started out as a boys coach, assisting current Jackson Center coach Scott Elchert when Elchert was at Upper Sandusky. Reese was there for one season before coming to Anna.

“I never saw myself being a girls coach,” Reese said. “But I’m glad I did it. I had great parental support and the kids were great. I told them, it they learned half as much from me as I learned from them, then it was good for everyone.

“There are no regrets,” he added. “I walked into a good situation. Not only was there good talent, but also great kids. They worked hard and they wanted to be there, and you never had to worry that they weren’t giving it everything they had.”

Reese was a star at Jackson Center, then moved on to an outstanding career at the University of Findlay. So it’s been a long time since basketball was not a big part of his life.

He was asked if coaching remained in his future.

“That’s a hard question to answer,” he said. “I’ve always had basketball, so I might miss it terribly. But right now, I feel there are other things in my life. Coaching took a toll on me last year with the kids and also taking classes to further my education. That combination was getting to be a lot for me.

“I thought about it for a long time and knew what I wanted to do,” he added. “But when it came time to announce it, it was very, very tough.”

Reese is the second county girls basketball coach to resign. Fairlawn coach Tim Barga, recently announced he was stepping down after two seasons as head coach.