{"id":117577,"date":"2019-05-08T19:50:55","date_gmt":"2019-05-09T00:50:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=117577"},"modified":"2019-05-10T08:19:44","modified_gmt":"2019-05-10T13:19:44","slug":"etzler-to-lead-knights-boys-hoops-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2019\/05\/08\/etzler-to-lead-knights-boys-hoops-team\/","title":{"rendered":"Etzler to lead Knight boys’ hoops team"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

SCOTT TRUXELL\/<\/strong>independent sports editor <\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

CONVOY \u2013 Former Crestview basketball standout Doug Etzler is coming home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The school\u2019s all time leading scorer and assist leader has been chosen to take over the Crestview boys\u2019 basketball program. He\u2019s taking over for Jeremy Best, who led the Knights to the 2018-2019 Division IV state championship, then announced his resignation last month. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Doug Etzler answers questions after being hired as Crestview’s next boys’ basketball coach.<\/strong> Scott Truxell\/Van Wert independent<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Etzler\u2019s hiring was made official during a special Board of Education meeting held Wednesday night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not replacing a coach, because replacing is not our goal; but, rather, we\u2019re starting the next chapter in a storied tradition that so many have contributed to,\u201d Athletic Administrator Trent Kreischer said during an introductory press conference. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA week ago I would have said it was just a dream,\u201d Etzler said. \u201cCoach Best is established here and it didn\u2019t enter my mind that this would be a possibility, but if you look back at the beginning of my coaching career and how things have played out, it\u2019s a dream come true.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a whirlwind for me,\u201d Etzler continued. \u201cI can\u2019t say enough how much I respect coach Best and the job he\u2019s done here. I\u2019ve always talked about the Crestview tradition and coach Best brings it up even higher, so I wasn\u2019t even thinking about this until it opened up, and here we are tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m happy to be able to bring my kids (Kylie and Gavin) here. You talk about coming full circle, having a chance to coach my son here as a Crestview Knight, having my daughter play as a Crestview Knight and have my wife (Lisa) be a part of this community, and I\u2019m happy to come home and officially say I\u2019m a Crestview Knight again.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

After playing for his father, Hall of Fame coach Ray Etzler, and graduating from Crestview in 1991, Etzler played four years of collegiate basketball at Ohio State. He\u2019s been the head coach at Division I Teays Valley in Ashville for the last 14 years. His teams there went 160-152 and won three Mid State League titles, along with three sectional championships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think the biggest adjustment for me is going to be getting to know all of the programs that we\u2019re playing against and getting to know my program,\u201d Etzler said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In terms of style of play, Etzler said he doesn\u2019t expect many changes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs a coach I\u2019m a lot more defensive minded than I am offensive minded, just because I know defense travels with you every night,\u201d Etzler explained. \u201cObviously offense is going to be very important, but it\u2019s going to depend on the guys too. I\u2019m not opposed to playing fast, but it depends on the makeup of the team.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Etzler added that he\u2019d like to keep last year\u2019s coaching staff in place. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey\u2019re Crestview guys, they\u2019ve been through it, and I\u2019m not here to change things, I\u2019m here to continue things,\u201d Etzler said. \u201cThings will be a little bit different, but I want some consistency and if they want to come back, I\u2019d love to have them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Etzler and his wife will teach at Crestview.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent sports editor CONVOY \u2013 Former Crestview basketball standout Doug Etzler is coming home. The school\u2019s all time leading scorer and assist leader has been chosen to take over the Crestview boys\u2019 basketball program. He\u2019s taking over for Jeremy Best, who led the Knights to the 2018-2019 Division IV state championship, then announced his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-117577","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-04 08:42:39","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117577","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117577"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117577\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117577"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}