Must Read Article about one our Best Below the Lancaster-Dixon Line :Coach Ryan Davis of Chesapeake

[pfloyd]

Please give this one a read ! Coach Ryan Davis , long time head coach at Chesapeake High School ... if you're a coach in Southern/SouthEast Ohio you HAVE had the pleasure of meeting/playing against Coach Davis ... if you're a fan, Coach Ryan Davis is one of the BEST coaches/teachers of the game in SEOhio ... this is an excellent article :

https://www.herald-dispatch.com/sports/ ... 5705b.html

[Hoopie74]

Great read.

[VetteMan]

Very good article.

[vegas2loveland]

do u have this whole article..click on it and herald dispatch blocks me from reading...would greatly appreaciate it...maybe post to thread if possible...thanks

[pfloyd]

do u have this whole article..click on it and herald dispatch blocks me from reading...would greatly appreaciate it...maybe post to thread if possible...thanks

CHESAPEAKE, Ohio — Ryan Davis is having fun.

That hasn’t always been the case for the highly successful Chesapeake High School basketball coach. Davis won two national championships as a player at Kentucky Christian University. He has won hundreds of games and a bevy of sectional, district and regional titles in Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio.

This season’s Chesapeake basketball team isn’t his best squad, although the Panthers take a 19-3 record into Sunday’s 3:45 p.m. district semifinal game vs. Wheelersburg (22-2) at Ohio University’s Convocation Center in Athens. It might, however, very well be his favorite.

“This team is a lot of guys who weren’t superstars growing up,” Davis said. They weren’t all-stars. Some of them weren’t starters. Some were at the back of the line coming up. They’re competitors who stuck it out and earned and got their shot. They have something to prove when they go out there. They’re a very tough group — physically tough and mentally tough. They’re not the biggest, they’re not the strongest, but there’s a lot of fight in them. They have so many positive attributes. They like to make up for their mistakes. They’re not a bunch of talkers. They do their talking with their play on the court.”

On the court, Davis is intense and uncompromising. He runs the program his way, based on those who have influenced him and the success he has experienced. Davis will adjust schemes to fit his personnel, but won’t sacrifice principals. That has on occasion drawn the ire of a player or parent.

“I know that playing for me is not for everyone,” said Davis, who has nine players on the varsity squad in an era when most teams roster 12 or more. “These guys want to be better. They want to be pushed. They want to be involved with someone who does things the right way. They’re not a selfish group. They’re a team-first group in every aspect. They do what they can for the team and don’t need personal accolades.”

Chesapeake lost three players who transferred since last season and features just two seniors, Josh Cox and Austin Jackson. Davis raved about both for the leadership and willingness to work, as well as off-court attributes.

“Josh Cox hasn’t play a lot of varsity basketball, but the middle is his and he’s done a great job this year,” Davis said. “He’s been impressive having been thrown into the middle. Austin has played quite a bit and does everything I’ve asked him to do. He’s done a great job.”

Davis won the Pete Maravich Award in 1996 as the national player of the year at KCU. He was talented, but also worked hard to become the player he was. He said his mom and dad, coach Jay Reese at Alexander High and Dick Damron at KCU greatly influenced his work ethic and coaching style. Reese, Davis said, was more about winning, and Damron more concerned with character and doing things the right way. Davis’ dad didn’t push him toward a particular sport, but insisted that whatever he chose he would be the best he could be for himself and his team.


Davis is about winning, but not just about the won-loss record. He said a pair of five-win seasons when this year’s seniors were freshmen and sophomores were difficult to take, but those losses help build the success of this season’s team. Jackson and Cox persevered, learning lessons that will last far beyond their high school years. That’s Davis’ goal no matter if his team wins five games or 20.

“Every year you want to give them the best experience you can give them and make sure they’re leaving here better people,” Davis said. “We don’t have NBAers here. College sports, everybody has that dream, but it’s hard sometimes to find that fit to make it possible. For 95 percent of kids, this is it.

“I want them to leave here with the tools, confidence, and ability to go do whatever they want to do. My goal in freshman algebra is for the kids to learn algebra, but be ready to go to the next math class, then to go do what you want to do. Not to get stuck just trying to find a job, but have the opportunity to make a choice of what you want.”

Persistence in life can be generated by seeing success from persevering on the court. Last week, Chesapeake trailed Minford by 15 points halfway through the third quarter, but rallied to win 59-49. Sophomore guard Levi Blankenship said the Panthers never considered quitting. They weren’t coached to give up.

“We knew we could do it,” Blankenship said, crediting Davis. “We did it before.”

Davis said this is an easy group he doesn’t worry about in the classroom or outside of school. The team’s cumulative grade point average is about 3.5. He called them as good a kids as there are in the school. Why? They listen, trust and correctly respond, not just to Davis, but to their parents.

Davis has coached 24 years, 13 at Chesapeake, one of the more-prestigious programs in Ohio. This group has been a challenge because of its youth, but Davis said he likes what he sees in potential for future seasons.

“There’s a lot of talent, but some youth,” Davis said. “A lot of guys we’re relying on are a little young, but aren’t near their potential. We’ve had a lot of really good players here who didn’t get a lot asked out of them as sophomores. We’ve asked a lot of our sophomores and juniors. They need to be significant varsity contributors.

“Our numbers aren’t great. Our size and strength are not great, but some of these guys will be forces to be reckoned with.”

[vegas2loveland]

thank u pfloyd...appreciated