Harris has been here before

By: 
J. Patrick Eaken

First-year Cardinal Stritch boys basketball coach Sedron Harris has big shoes to fill and he knows it. He is replacing Jamie Kachmarik, who left to take the head coaching position at St. Francis.

Kachmarik was a collegiate coach for 16 years, and in his seven years at Stritch his teams went 132-41, won three Toledo Area Athletic Conference titles, three district titles, one regional title and had one state final appearance. He was also 2018 and 2021 Toledo Area Athletic Conference Coach of the Year and a three-time Alan Miller Jewelers All-Press Coach of the Year.

No problem, says Harris, who coached two years under St. John’s coach Mike Schoen. They had a similar issue when taking over there.

“We learned a lot. The biggest thing is we took over after Ed Heintschel had a great career as coach, and one thing I’ve learned is to do your thing and be consistent at it,” Harris said. 

“It’s tough following up someone in any sport, but also you can make it that much better when you have that. As we tell the players, it is going to be a different journey, but that is part of what makes you a coach and we have to prepare for that.”

The only problem for Harris is he has no returning starters.

“With the exchange of leadership, a couple guys transferred out, but the bright spot is we are young. We are very competitive. It looks like we’ll start probably two sophomores and three juniors,” Harris said.

The Cardinals opened the season with a 75-74 overtime victory over Leipsic. Harris says this team had already proven itself in the offseason. 

“Most of these guys have played through the summer, played in AAU programs whether it is through us or other programs, so they’ve seen (NCAA) D-I, D-II talent from the AAU experience coming in. We have eight to nine guys already playing summer basketball and they have been competing down at Cedar Point in the varsity showcase there, so I don’t think they will have any problems. The biggest thing is they will have to gel in the right spots and that we are patient when games are very close,” Harris said.

The TAAC, which has proven itself to be one of the best small school leagues in Northwest Ohio, may be turned upside down with Emmanuel Christian one of the favorites.

“I think a lot of people are picking Emmanuel to win the TAAC. But its the fact that Toledo Christian is always competitive, and coach (Dave) McWhinnie has been there 25 years,” Harris said. 

“Maumee Valley has a new head coach taking over that program and that will be a little bit of a rebuild, and he’s been at TC as an assistant so he’ll definitely have a lot of things that will look a little different. TC is always good, they scout well, they are very competitive, and they shoot well.”

 

 

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