Badger names Fitch to top post

The former Champion High standout was a varsity assistant at Howland last year.
By JOHN BASSETTI
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
KINSMAN -- The boys basketball coaching turnstile allowed three newcomers to gain admission in the last month.
Ryan Fitch is one of those as he takes the top position at Badger High.
Fitch, from Niles, assumes the job held by Bill Bogan.
Fitch was the Trumbull County player of the year for the 1994-95 season as a Champion High point guard.
After graduating from Roberts Wesleyan in Rochester, N.Y. where he had a scholarship, Fitch coached seventh-grade boys at Warren Reserve in 2000 and was varsity assistant at Howland in 2001.
He replaces Bogan, whose Braves went 20-4 and reached the regional semifinals in Division III.
"What he's established at the lower level through varsity makes the transition easy for me," Fitch, 24, said.
Bogan took the Braves to the state tournament in 1981.
Key players returning
Key players returning for 2002-03 are seniors Mitch Logan and Tyler Bonar and junior Kyle Arnold.
"Those three played quality varsity minutes last year and give us a good base. With a younger group coming up, we could be pretty competitive," said Fitch.
Also, sophomore Anthony Mancini should get better during summer shootouts.
For 2003-04, Badger moves from the TAC to the new Northeastern Athletic Conference that includes Southington, Lordstown, Bristol, Maplewood, Bloomfield and Pymatuning Valley.
"It'll be good for us because our kids can compete with those schools. If you didn't have something coming back every year in the TAC, you were going to struggle."
Fitch will be teach eighth-grade reading and English at the middle school.
On the court, he prefers to run open motion.
"I like to see a lot of dribble penetration, attack the gaps and force people to help and take a lot of jump shots. I like to spread the floor with open motion and no post."
Fitch's junior varsity coach is Craig Kellar, the former freshman coach at Badger.