Laudick takes over VW basketball team

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent sports editor

After serving as the junior varsity coach for six seasons, Ben Laudick has been named as the new varsity boys’ basketball coach at Van Wert High School.

The Board of Education hired him Wednesday night to replace Mark Bagley, who stepped down in March. Laudick said he’s hitting the ground running.

“It’s been a little chaotic but I got our summer calendar together for the month of June so that has been a high priority for me up until this point,” Laudick said. “The next thing on my list is to finalize my coaching staff. I am lucky that some of the guys that have been coaching for a while are returning.”

“Brandon Miller, Jeff Hood, Kerry Koontz, and Nate Hoverman are all returning which takes a lot off my plate because they all do an outstanding job. I am looking to fill a spot or two so that is next in my list. Once that’s done fine-tuning some offense and defense of things that we want to work on the summer and into next season would be next on the list.”

As far as expectations, Laudick said he has some clear ones in mind.

“My expectations for this season are to have a group of guys that compete every day, whether that’s practices, scrimmages, or games,” Laudick explained. “If players are giving me their best effort and competing like crazy that’s all I can really ask of them.”

“As far as goals, I want to win but when it comes to the specifics of goals for our team I want to sit down with the players and figure those goals together. It starts with player buy-in. What do they want accomplish? It’s my job as the coach then to go out there and help them achieve those goals with hard work and preparation.”

The Cougars are coming off a 16-10 (6-3 WBL) season that included a sectional championship and a spot in the Division II district title game. Four talented seniors from that team are graduating later this month.

“Obviously we are going to miss the four seniors, but we do have some really nice players returning for us,” Laudick said. “We potentially could have a large senior class next year with upwards of eight seniors in our program. Tanner Barnhart, Clayton Proffitt, and Jake Hilleary will be seniors next season and contributed at the varsity level last year and I look forward to what they can do for us.”

“There is also a group of incoming seniors that were on my junior varsity team last year – Keaton Brown, Parker Conrad, Spencer Adams, Kolby Barnhart and Colin Place – that will fill specific roles within our team. Owen Treece will be a junior and is a two year starter and returning leading scorer along with LeTrey Williams who will also be a junior played point guard for us last year.”

“We have a large and competitive incoming sophomore group that will look to compete for spots and a very talented incoming freshman group as well. I love my guys that are coming back and I look forward to the challenge of putting this puzzle together to compete on a nightly basis.”

Laudick also said being familiar with the returning players is a benefit to him and the progam.

“Being around the junior varsity players has allowed me to know their strengths and weaknesses coming into the off-season this summer,” the coach noted. “I feel like I have a great relationship with all my players I coached last year and in previous seasons so I kind a know what makes them go and how to motivate them.”

“Plus I have had all of them in class when they were in middle school, so the rapport began well before I coached them in basketball,”

Laudick teaches at Van Wert Middle School.