Dan Lietdke to coach both Fort Fyre boys and girls basketbal

[olay135]

I saw this earlier in the paper and I don't know how this is possible... but I guess if anyone can do it, it would be Dan.

[Black Panther]

I dont see how this can be possible.One or the other will get short changed.You have to have full dedication to one or the other...Let's guess which one will get short changed? Duh.... It will be the girls...They seem to get the short end on everything, so it wont be any different here....What's the problem here,is this school so poor they cant afford to hire a girls coach? I think at worst case senario I would take a volunteer coach before I would let one person coach both..

[Ironman92]

I doubt it saves any money. He'll get a boy's coaching stipend and a girl's coaching stipend.

[Black Panther]

I doubt it saves any money. He'll get a boy's coaching stipend and a girl's coaching stipend.

I dont care about that.One or the other will not get the full attention it deserves....That's all i'm saying....

[earp]

All I can say is that he had better have some good assistant coaches if he is going to pull that off!

[Ironman92]

You asked what the problem with the school district was....."is this school so poor they can't afford a girl's coach"


I understand and agree with your original post.....but I just clarified a portion of it.

[WitnessProtection]

From the Marietta Times ...

Liedtke to coach both boys and girls Cadet basketball teams
By Ron Johnston, rjohnston@mariettatimes.com
POSTED: June 6, 2009

BEVERLY - Winning basketball.

That's what Dan Liedtke has coached the boys at Fort Frye High School for the past 24 years.

Adding to his work load, the veteran hoops mentor has the same thing in mind for the Lady Cadets next season.

This past week, the 49-year-old Liedtke was hired by the Fort Frye Local School District Board of Education as both the FFHS boys and girls head basketball coach.

"The administration realizes this is a rare thing," Liedtke said. "But when I laid my plan out and showed them how things would work, I think they felt that it's worth a try, and to see how it goes.

"I'm also getting great support from the community and parents about this whole thing."

Liedtke paused.

"For me, this is a new challenge," the coach continued. "I love what I'm doing, and I'm not here to be average. I'm here to build the best program the school can have. I can't coach any other way."

Liedtke said that he "spent hours and hours" trying to make a coaching decision. Would it be the boys, or the girls?

"It all came back to the same thing," he said. "Do both."

To coach both the boys and girls on the hardwood, Liedtke is counting on his assistants.

"To make this happen, the staff is going to be very important," Liedtke said. "I wouldn't consider thinking about this if it weren't for them."

Right now, Liedtke's Cadet boys staff includes Terry Huck, John Bostic, Troy Fogle, and Matt Anderson.

"We're like brothers, and work together so well," Liedtke said.

At the boys helm, Liedtke has guided Fort Frye to a 388-152 overall record, which includes 15 Pioneer Valley Conference championships, 11 sectional titles, three district crowns, and one state final four appearance.

Last winter, the Cadets were 18-3, and ranked No. 3 at one point during the season.

"My wife (Loretta) and three daughters (Morgan, Megan and Makayla) have grown up with Fort Frye boys basketball," Liedtke said. "And they would've been upset if I'd chosen just the girls to coach and dropped the boys. So, I'm not done with the boys. I'd be uncomfortable leaving them."

Fort Frye's boys team graduated four starters - Brandt Thieman, Jarrod Arnold, Tyler Stevens, and Isiah Warren. The 2009-10 team will probably include three seniors - Jarid Bates, Ryan Mincks, and Coty Adams. Garrett Legraen and Donald Hilverding are a couple of other players with varsity experience.

"I have a group of boys who have been ball boys for me, who have been in the program and couldn't wait until this time," Liedtke said. "There's a good chemistry. Also, our JV team had another successful year."

On Friday night, Liedtke met with the Lady Cadets, who were 8-14 last winter under the leadership of Bobbi Webb. A relatively young squad, many of the players are expected to return next season.

"There's a lot of potential there," Liedtke said, "and we'll see where we're at.

"I love to teach, and I'll be doing more of that now with the girls, and watching them improve. It's going to take time, and we'll have some ups and downs and bumps in the road, just like it was when I first began with the boys."

As for the Fort Frye girls basketball program overall....

"Many of the girls from grades 9 down to 5, I've worked with," Liedtke said. "They know my system."

Liedtke's Lady Cadets assistants will be Pat Lang, Cathy Borich, and Huck (also doing double duty).

"You have to have the right people to make this work," Liedtke said.

[WitnessProtection]

Another Marietta Times article on Liedtke ...

Cadet hoops coach looking forward to his ‘hand’ next winter
By Ron Johnston, rjohnston@mariettatimes.com
POSTED: June 9, 2009

BEVERLY - In the sports film classic "Hoosiers," coach Norman Dale - actor Gene Hackman's character - says, "Let's see what hand I've been dealt with."

It's one of Fort Frye head boys and girls basketball coach Dan Liedtke's favorite lines.

"That's how I feel," said Liedtke, smiling.

Last week, Liedtke, the school's longtime boys basketball mentor, added to his work load when he was also hired as the Lady Cadets coach by the Fort Frye Local School District Board of Education.

You've all probably familiar with the expression, "gym rat." Right?

Well, needless to say, Liedtke's second home figures be the Fort Frye High School gymnasium next basketball season. He knows and accepts this - and he wouldn't have it any other way.

Of course, Liedtke's also going to be receiving a lot of help from his friends, namely his boys and girls coaching staff. Without these people in place, there's no way he would be able to coach both squads.

Got to give Liedtke credit. He could have opted out of the boys position, but didn't.

"I'd be uncomfortable leaving them," Liedtke said.

Or, the Cadet coach could have not even considered being on the girls' sideline. But that, too, would've been difficult, especially with three basketball-playing daughters coming up through the ranks.

Eldest daughter Morgan will be a Fort Frye freshman when the school year begins at the end of the summer.

"Several years ago, I looked at possibly coaching girls basketball down the road," Liedtke said. "But I wasn't sure I was going to do it."

He is now.

Thing is, has Liedtke over-extended himself, teaching and guiding both the boys and girls? That he has an abundance of energy and basketball knowledge, there's no question.

Still, he's human. Will he be flirting with burnout?

"Dan's going to be just fine," said Paden City (W.Va.) High School boys basketball coach Fred King. "What he's doing can be done."

King, a 1970 Frontier High graduate, should know, because he coached both the boys and girls basketball teams at Paden City for three years, from 2005 to 2007. His daughter, Brittany - now playing for Marietta College - was one of his top players.

"The key to coaching both is organizing your time and having good assistants," King said. "Paden City is a small community, similar, I think, to (Beverly). I could've called a practice in five minutes. I never had to do that, but I could've.

"Jeff Bowers was my assistant, and he was great."

King said that his wife, Debbie, kept the scorebook for the girls.

Perhaps not too surprisingly, King and Liedtke know each other, striking up a conversation at Ohio University-Eastern in Belmont when Fort Frye played and was defeated by Wheeling Central in an OVAC championship game on Feb. 21.

"Dan's an excellent coach," King said. "His teams are disciplined and can beat teams better than his.

"I just want to wish him the best of luck next season."

Coach Dale also says in "Hoosiers, "You are in the Army. You're in my Army. Everyday between three and five."

Well, in Liedtke's case, the time is obviously going to be longer than three to five next season.

"We're going to be spending a lot of time at the school," Liedtke said. "How long this will go on, I don't know.

"I do know I'm going to do this (coach boys and girls basketball), and we're (head coach and staff) going to put everything we got into it."

Sounds like a winning hand to me, for both the Fort Frye boys and girls basketball teams.