GRANGER TWP. — A familiar face within the Highland community has been named the 19th boys basketball coach in school history.
Already in the loop as a high school history teacher and freshman coach, Adam Cestaro accepted the school’s offer Friday after a drawn-out interview process.
The 35-year-old St. Vincent-St. Mary High graduate replaces Michael Murphy, who went 47-24 over three seasons.
“Probably the biggest thing being at Highland all these years, I’ve learned Highland Schools do everything first class,” he said. “You look at the school building we’re in, the arts, the academics and the football stadium we’re building. We need to build a consistent, long-term basketball program that is on par with those other aspects.”
Cestaro has been teaching at Highland since 2003 and was junior varsity coach under Chris Capannola and Chris Kestner. He then moved to Hoban as an assistant under T.K. Griffith for five seasons before returning to the Hornets as freshman coach last winter.
Murphy resigned in April, and Highland took an unusually long time to name his replacement. Cestaro unofficially ran the program in the meantime and set up a summer schedule before the interim tag was lifted.
“My biggest thing was knowing the kids and how to work with them for a year,” he said. “I wanted to make sure we got things accomplished in the spring and summertime. Even if we weren’t working on particulars, we’d be working on skill development, getting in the gym, getting in a summer league, coming together as a program, making teammates better and getting the most out of the offseason.”
The Hornets were decimated by graduation after going 18-7 last season. Four-year starters Brogan Scott (1,478 career points) and Tanner Houska (1,024) are gone, as are versatile swingman Kevin Greenhoe (11.2 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 2.1 apg) and marksman Ben Hauser (9.4, 30 3-pointers).
Only 149 points are slated to return, led by 6-foot-6 senior center Joe Wiencek (3.1 ppg, 4.4 rpg) and generously listed 6-2 senior backup and All-Ohio offensive lineman Tyler Frederick (1.5, 1.6).
The good news lies with a junior varsity that rebounded from a slow start to finish 11-10. Isaac Matejin worked into the back end of the varsity rotation, while Collin Levandowski, Brandon Shaw, Ethan Yerian and Kyle Meissner also saw time. Sophomore Collin Rittman will be another name to watch.
“You keep the standards high,” Cestaro said. “One of our big standards has been being a great teammate. Basketball is a team game, and one thing we really try to talk about is if you’re always focused on yourself all the time, you lose sight of how to make your teammates better.
“(It’s) the next-man up mentality. We definitely had a great senior class, but this group this year can be a good group, too. They’ve waited their turn and are ready to show what they can do. In a good basketball program, you have to do that sometimes.”
Cestaro, who is married with a son and lives in Green, will be the Highland’s eighth coach since 2000. He’s aware of that fact and plans on sticking around for a long time.
He also feels it is an exciting time with the overhauled Suburban League set to debut. The Hornets will be in the small-school American Division alongside Copley (13-10 in 2014-15), Kent Roosevelt (14-8), Tallmadge (17-8), Revere (6-18), Aurora (9-14) and Barberton (5-16).
“You don’t like that you’re losing some of the traditional rivals because it’s nice to play Wadsworth and Green twice a year in the sense you have the familiarity and you like to compete with programs like that,” he said. “On the other hand, the new Suburban League is divided up by school size better. We’re excited to get into a new new-look league and make our stamp.”
Contact Albert Grindle at (330) 721-4043 or agrindle@medina-gazette.com.
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