Basketball and Life: with Coach Jon Cook

Bob Ghiloni retired from Denison University immediately following the 2019-2020 season.  He spent 18 years at the helm of the Division III program in Granville, Ohio.  Coach Ghiloni had a non-traditional pathway into the coaching profession.  He attended the regional campus at OSU-Newark for his first two years of college, before finishing his degree at the main campus of The Ohio State University...

Bob Seggerson stepped down as the coach of Lima Central Catholic High School following his win in the Division 3 state championship game in 2010 ending a legendary career that saw his team compete at state on six different occasions. In addition to his state championship, his teams were state runner-ups in 1989 and 1994 and state semifinalists in 1992, 1993 and 2000. Coach Seggerson was a huge imp...

Note: In the fall of 2020, Talkin' Hoops with Coach Jon Cook was interrupted for what was supposed to be one basketball season. For a couple of specific reasons, I was unable to publish what would have been the final episode of Season 1, or to resume the podcast for well over two years. I apologize to Jamie Kachmarik for that, and I am publishing this episode now as pre-cursor to the re-launch...

This episode of the podcast is one of two that was recorded just prior to my unexpectedly being named as the head coach at Ada High School (you can listen to Episode 74 for the details on that situation).  I so greatly appreciate Coach Dave Krauss for sharing his time and the story of his journey with the podcast.  Coach Krauss was a remarkably successful high school coach including a st...

Chris Oliver, the founder of Basketball Immersion and the host of The Basketball Podcast, had a 23-year career coaching college basketball in Canada before launching the Basketball Immersion website (www.basketballimmersion.com).  Through Basketball Immersion, Chris has created a community for basketball junkies and provides some of the best available content for coaches at all levels of the game,...

The year 2020 just continues to be more and more bizarre.  When this podcast launched last spring no one, I mean no one, would have been able to convince me that coaching high school basketball again was in my immediate future.  But about a month ago some things began to transpire that ultimately resulted in me doing just that.  So as I prepare to begin this very unexpected season a...

My guest today is Bryan, Ohio native Matt Jones.  Matt is a basketball lifer who has bet on himself more often than most people twice his age in pursuit of a life in basketball. After high school, Matt played at two separate junior colleges before receiving a degree at Lourdes University, then beginning his coaching odyssey.  Mobile, Alabama, Miami, Florida and Charlotte, North Carolina...

Brook Cupps graduated from Graham High School in St. Paris, Ohio near Springfield in 1995, and following a 4-year playing career at Capital University in Columbus, he returned to Graham.  He became the head coach in 2000 and spent 12 seasons building a high level basketball program at a relatively small school with a national reputation for wrestling.  But that is the information that an...

How many coaches have a resume that includes a year of high school assistant coaching while working for a tree service, a stint as a Division II assistant, followed by a graduate assistant position under Bob Knight and time spent at a Texas junior college?  All of those are a part Brooks Miller's coaching journey.  Coach Miller is the head basketball coach at Trine University, an NCAA Di...

Nate Axelrod was a phenomenal player at Ohio Wesleyan University.  A 3-time North Coast Athletic Conference Player of the Year, an All-American and the NCAA Division III National Player of the Year as a senior.  After beginning his college coaching career as an assistant at Oberlin College, and while planning to serve as a graduate assistant at Otterbein College, Coach Axelrod was given...

I have often referred to the coaching profession as a fraternity or brotherhood, and it is.  However, it is also a highly competitive and sometimes ego-driven profession as well.  Because of that nearly everyone who has spent any time in coaching likely has members of the fraternity whom he/she dislikes.  Likewise, those of us who have spent time in the coaching ranks are likely to...

Brett Hammons has been coaching basketball at Lincolnview High School for 14 years.  He spent six years as an assistant, including four years as either the JV coach or the varsity assistant.  He has been the head coach for the past eight seasons and has led the program to remarkable success, including a trip to the state final four.  Coach Hammons is equal parts humble and ultra com...

My guest  today is Eric Rosenbeck of St. Henry High School.  Eric grew up in Russia, Ohio, the son of a high school coach, AD and Principal. He played for legendary head coach Paul Bremigan at Russia High School then spent four years in the program at Capital University playing for Damon Goodwin.  After graduating 2005, Coach Rosenbeck was an assistant coach at St. Mary's High School before coming...

Corey Britton is a basketball lifer.  He grew up in northwest Ohio, the son of an outstanding high school basketball coach.  He attended college and was a student assistant at the University of Findlay with the Oiler basketball program that is a Division II national power. His first head coaching job was at Reedsville Eastern High School near Athens, Ohio immediately after graduating fro...

Doug Krauss spent 34 years as the head basketball coach at Archbold High School on northwest Ohio before retiring in 2018.  During his 34 years, Coach Krauss built (and maintained ) the BLue Streak program into one of the best programs in the state regardless of division.  With 18 league titles, 562 wins and 5 trips to the state final four, the success speaks for itself.  What the n...

Dan Priest has been involved in college coaching since the early 1990's.  After a stellar playing career at Ohio Northern University, Coach Priest began a coaching odyssey that has taken him to places like Oxford, Ohio, Hanover, Indiana and Conway, Arkansas among other stops on his way to becoming the head coach at one of the academically elite institutions of higher learning in the entire co...

From his time as an assistant with the women's program at Wisconsin-Stevens Point, Kole Vivian got used to winning.  In coming to Marietta College, first as an assistant, and ultimately as the head coach, winning was not a guarantee.  Vivian joined a program that had experienced minimal success at best in its history.  During his time as an assistant, the Pioneers began to make stri...

Toby Carrigan grew up in Indiana and played high school basketball at Rising Sun High School before a college career at Hanover College, where he played and then coached under legendary head coach Mike Beitzel.  After one season as an assistant at Hanover, Coach Carrigan was hired as an assistant coach at Transylvania University for another legend in Don Lane, where the Pioneers were making the tr...

If you are a high school basketball coach in northwest Ohio it is likely that you know Dave Hirschy.  If you are a person, coach or otherwise, who enjoys being around engaging, genuine, sincere, passionate, energetic people, then you should get to know Dave Hirschy.  I hope this podcast helps accomplish that.  Dave and I met nearly 30 years ago working basketball camp at Ohio Northe...

My guest today is Zach Fleer.  Zach is the co-founder of 270Hoops.com, a website dedicated to coversing high school basketball in central Ohio, and particularly in the city of Columbus.  The "coverage" includes game reporting to be sure, but also includes scouting and exposure to college coaches and college programs particularly for high school players that may otherwise be overlooked. &...

Mike Fuline is a born and raised northeast Ohio guy who began his coaching career in Rootstown, Ohio.  His success at Rootstown led to his hiring at Massillon Jackson High School, a Division I power in the state.  Coach Fuline led the Polar Bears to the 2010 State Championship.  The success of the program at Jackson resulted in the rare opportunity to make the move from high school coaching to the...

Eric Flannery began his high school coaching journey as an assistant at his alma mater,  St. Edward High School, while he was still a college student, and he was named the head coach shortly after his graduation from Cleveland State University.  In his 24 years as the head coach at Ed's, the Eagles have won well over 400 games and captured State Championships in 1998 and 2014.  Coac...

The city of Lima, Ohio has been home to the recipient of the state's Mr. Basketball Award winner a total of 5 times since the award's inception in 1988.  Any reasonable discussion about the greatest high school basketball player to come out of Lima should center on these young men.  However, if the discussion were to be simply about the Lima native with the greatest basketball career, I believe th...

Don Showalter spent 42 years as a high school basketball coach in Iowa.  He led 4 programs, recorded more than 600 wins and made 6 state tournament appearances between 1975 and 2016.  In 1998, Coach Sho began his connection with USA Basketball at the 1998 Hoops Summit.  He was eventually named a coach of the US Junior National Team, and between 2009 and 2018, he led the U16 & U17 team to 10 gold m...

When Carl Kremer was hired to be a teacher and assistant coach at Moeller High School in 1984, the program was not a basketball powerhouse.  Things are just a bit different now.  Coach Kremer took over as the head coach in January of 1990.  Since then the Crusaders have won over 600 games and 5 Division I state championships in Ohio.  For the most part those are just numbers, w...