Salem hires Hart as boys basketball coach

Staff report

SALEM

Rich Hart may have left coaching four years ago, but coaching never left him.

The longtime Minerva High coach was hired to lead Salem’s boys basketball program this week, giving him a chance to return to the Northeastern Buckeye Conference.

The Quakers are leaving the All-American Conference next spring for the Stark County-based league.

“I thought it was a nice fit,” said Hart, who teaches physical education at Minerva. “I always enjoyed it when we went over there and played. I enjoyed the facilities and they have a great group of people, from the administration to the athletic director.

“That means a lot to me, knowing I’m going to have that support and knowing I’m going to be working with good people.”

Hart, who is 238-199 all-time, coached the Lions from 1992-2006 when he won three NBC titles. He was named Ohio’s Division II coach of the year in 1993-94.

He stepped down after the 2006 season but regretted it almost immediately.

“I’ve always missed it,” he said. “If I would have taken a month off, I’d probably be the same thing I was doing then. But it was hard for me to take a month off. It was hard for me to take a week off.”

Hart spent one year as a play-by-play announcer, then coached eighth grade girls basketball for one season with his daughter.

He’s spent the past two years taking care of his wife, who has been in and out of the hospital due to complications from a hysterectomy operation. The doctor clipped her colon during the surgery, which put her in the hospital for 67 straight days and created a host of complications.

His wife is healthy now and he’s ready to get back on the sidelines.

Hart knows he won’t have a lot of size to work with at Salem but said that fits in with his coaching philosophy.

“I like to run, I like to fast break and I like to pressure,” he said. “They’ll fit right in.”