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Howland hires Lee to coach its boys basketball program
By Curtis pulliam
The Howland Tigers will have a new, but yet familiar face on the sideline when the 2014-15 boys basketball season rolls around.
Former Mathews head coach Jason Lee will take over the same spot at Howland, where he currently teaches biology and science classes.
“When we looked at Jason, having been in a variety of different schools and exposed to some different head coaches, I think has allowed him to become diversified,” Howland’s athletic director Ron McCleary said. “He’s been a teacher the last seven years in Howland. We’ve watched him grow as a teacher. He’s doing a great job for us in the classroom. We just thought he deserved the job at this time.”
Lee, 32, from Lordstown, has been an assistant coach at a number of schools, including a previous stint at Howland.
“I think having worked under coach [Dan] Campana at Howland before and under coach Campana at Mathews before, that’s someone that has really taught me a lot,” Lee said. “I think the experience I had at Mathews can without a doubt help me build the kind of program that the community in Howland wants and deserves.”
Lee won the Northeastern Athletic Conference championship in the 2011-12 season and he was named the Trumball County Coaches Association’s Coach of the Year. He spent four seasons at Mathews.
“I am extremely excited but I well miss Mathews extremely,” Lee said. “I can’t thank the Vienna and Fowler community enough for the support and opportunity I had at Mathews. Having worked there, I truly am a better person and coach.”
Coming off of a 10-14 season with the Mustangs, Lee looks to create a highly positive atmosphere around the Tigers’ program.
“I am sightly enthusiastic,” Lee said. “I would say that enthusiasm would probably follow me where I go.”
With that enthusiasm, Lee hopes to instill a strong work ethic into his players.
“There’s a lot of work ahead of us but there is light at the end of the tunnel,” Lee said. “I think that the players I met with today and the faces that I saw are willing to get out there and get the work done and put some sweat on the floor to get the job done.”
However, Lee knows coming into the position, it will not be an easy task right away.
“The hardest part of my job is getting young men to achieve more than what they think is possible,” Lee said.
As for the Tigers, who went 6-16 last season and 3-9 in the All-American Conference under coach Bill Bogan, McCleary knows Lee has a tough road ahead of him.
“Jason’s going to have a young team,” McClearly said. “He’s inheriting a team that last year, we didn’t have a lot of success. We’re going to be realistic and we want Jason to develop the program from the bottom up. Meaning we want him to continue to demonstrate growth fifth grade all the way to the varsity level.”
Both Lee and McCleary acknowledge that the program is looking to turn it around from previous seasons, but Lee still has high expectations for his new squad.
“My expectations are that we’re one of those teams that you hopefully have to game plan for,” Lee said. “I think that if you’re one of those teams you have to game plan for, then you can look back and hang your head on that.”
Lee was a high school player at Warren JFK.