{"id":38968,"date":"2013-05-23T06:15:01","date_gmt":"2013-05-23T11:15:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/?p=38968"},"modified":"2013-05-24T07:29:10","modified_gmt":"2013-05-24T12:29:10","slug":"froelich-looks-back-on-basketball-coaching-career","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2013\/05\/23\/froelich-looks-back-on-basketball-coaching-career\/","title":{"rendered":"Froelich looks back on coaching career"},"content":{"rendered":"

CINDY WOOD\/<\/strong>independent feature writer<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Longtime VWHS boys' basketball coach Dave Froelich with the trophy he received in honor of his 400th coaching victory. (VW independent file photos by Jan Dunlap)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There\u2019s one question that remains in Dave Froelich\u2019s mind. \u201cI really don\u2019t know where I\u2019m going to sit next year,\u201d he said with a laugh.<\/p>\n

The longtime Van Wert boys\u2019 basketball head coach\u2019s regular courtside seat will be filled by replacement Mark Bagley after Froelich announced his resignation earlier this year.<\/p>\n

Capping a 34-year coaching career that began at Colonel Crawford in North Robinson and ended at Van Wert, the man known for his signature vest and passion for the game of basketball has passed the torch.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just knew it was time,\u201d Froelich said. \u201cIt was tough, but I just felt that it was the right time for everybody. I have no second thoughts whatsoever at this point.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even still, Froelich finds himself in unfamiliar territory as the summer creeps up and, for the first time in more than 20 years, he\u2019s not coordinating schedules and scrimmages. \u201cAll of those \u2018firsts\u2019 are going to be different for me,\u201d he said, adding, \u201cit\u2019s the first time I\u2019m not planning our summer calendar or planning the next shoot-out, so it\u2019s absolutely going to be different for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

As it will for players and fans alike, who have come to respect the man who mentors his players not only on the court, but off as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s easy to get consumed with the basketball part of it, but in reality it\u2019s just one small part of life,\u201d Froelich said. \u201cI\u2019ve had a lot of quality people to work with, not only the kids but their families as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat makes it a whole lot easier to work with kids when they have the right values and right intentions of what they want to do with life,\u201d he added. \u201cIf any of these kids can use what they\u2019ve learned here as they move forward and move on, then that\u2019s great.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hundreds of players have come and gone through the program, but Froelich\u2019s coaching style and his passion for the game have remained a constant. Calling himself \u201cold school,\u201d Froelich admits he\u2019s tough, but also says he\u2019s never asked for anything other than 100 percent from his teams.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re demanding, but I don\u2019t think we asked kids to do anything outrageous; I\u2019d say I\u2019m old school in terms of our attention to detail and some of the fundamentals we stress time after time,\u201d Froelich said, adding that each year the team operated on a basic outline that was tweaked to match each individual player\u2019s strengths.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an outline that has worked well. Under Froelich\u2019s leadership, the Cougar basketball program has consistently churned out athletic, as well as academic, standouts, evidenced by the 2012-13 squad earning the No. 1 ranking in the state for its team grade point average.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s that type of accomplishment that matters long after diplomas are in hand, Froelich said. \u201cYou always want to get to the ultimate goal (a state championship); some get to it and some don\u2019t,\u201d Froelich said. \u201cI was never really consumed by whether a state championship defined success.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs important as we think winning is, it\u2019s just one small niche in the development of a kid,\u201d he added. \u201cIf I truly had to define success, I would say go back and look at the kind of players we had and what they\u2019re doing now, not what they were doing when they played high school basketball.\u201d<\/p>\n

In what would be his last season of coaching, Froelich was honored for acquiring his 400th career coaching win, and added 20 more \u201cWs\u201d before the end of the season.<\/p>\n

Early on in his career, though, those wins were a little harder to come by. Froelich was quickly initiated into the world of high school basketball during his first career game, which pitted rural Colonel Crawford against a Dayton-Chaminade team that boasted two excellent guards — one who eventually played for Wisconsin and the other who went on to play at Marquette.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey beat us by thirty-some points at the Nutter Center at Wright State,\u201d Froelich said, adding, \u201cafter that, I thought \u2018well, this was not a good decision.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Fortunately, things began to come together at the small school, and under the new coach, the Eagles won their first-ever league championship, in addition to their first sectional championship.<\/p>\n

After a brief three-year stint at Perrysburg, Froelich took over where former Van Wert coach Keith Noftz left off and continued to build on a strong foundation. \u201cThings had obviously gone very well and we wanted to continue that,\u201d Froelich said. \u201cThe program was already in good shape, but we did struggle a bit for a year or so, just due to some different circumstances.\u201d<\/p>\n

In three short years, though, Froelich gained the respect of his players, and he looks back on that time with fondness — and a mutual respect for the young men who played under him.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe ended up winning the league in our third year and making a nice post-season run. We had our ups and downs, but if the kids see you\u2019re passionate about what you do, they\u2019ll buy into it and work hard for you,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve been fortunate here to always have good kids who are able to step up and perform for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Dave Froelich instructs his Cougar players during a timeout.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As did Ben Ayers in 1999, a sectional championship game Froelich counts as one of his most memorable. \u201cWe won that one on Benny\u2019s last-second shot in the sectional finals,\u201d he said, \u201cIt was kind of a \u2018Hail Mary\u2019 type play and it worked.\u201d<\/p>\n

Froelich also recalled a game in the old gym that pitted former VWHS standout Cory Sinning against Shawnee\u2019s Jamar Butler. \u201cThat was one of the best games to just kind of sit there and watch,\u201d he said. \u201cBut there were many, many more games that were exciting to watch, and there were some that we obviously lost.\u201d<\/p>\n

He specifically recalled Van Wert\u2019s recent tournament games, in which the Cougars dropped out of the race after tough double overtime losses.<\/p>\n

Reflecting back on a successful career, Froelich said the key to being a good coach is not only having committed players, but a strong assistant coaching staff, as well as a supportive family. \u201cIt has to start at home, and I\u2019m very fortunate I had that. My wife has done this for thirty-four years without question, and I never once felt like I was a burden to her,\u201d Froelich said. \u201cShe was behind me one-hundred percent, as were my kids, who were born into this and grew up in it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWithout question, my family has sacrificed many things quietly, adjusting schedules so I could do what I love to do,\u201d he added. \u201cIt was just what we did as a family and we always did it together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Froelich will have considerably more time now to devote to his family, something he said he is looking forward to. And he\u2019s happy to be Van Wert basketball\u2019s No. 1 fan, no matter where he\u2019s sitting. \u201cOh, it\u2019s going to be strange. I really don\u2019t know where to sit, or where I\u2019m going to go in the gym,\u201d he noted. \u201cBut I\u2019ll be their biggest fan, and I\u2019ll be supportive, but I won\u2019t be in the way. It\u2019s time to move on for the next group.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a bittersweet realization for not only local administrators and fans, but the Western Buckeye League as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen Dave announced that he was resigning from basketball, I had a fellow athletic director who has also been a coach say to me that the WBL has lost its best basketball coach,\u201d Van Wert High School Athletic Director Kent Smelser said. \u201cI think that truly shows how people within our league and our area feel about him. Dave truly cares about each one of the athletes who have played for him and he\u2019s going to be very hard to replace.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CINDY WOOD\/independent feature writer There\u2019s one question that remains in Dave Froelich\u2019s mind. \u201cI really don\u2019t know where I\u2019m going to sit next year,\u201d he said with a laugh. The longtime Van Wert boys\u2019 basketball head coach\u2019s regular courtside seat will be filled by replacement Mark Bagley after Froelich announced his resignation earlier this year. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38968","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-31 00:52:06","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\/38968","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=38968"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38968\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}