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Howland eyes Bubon; Liberty looking to Kohl
By Steve Ruman
Dan Bubon was willing to move on from Liberty and into a new direction.
Chris Kohl was eager to stay at Liberty and return to coaching.
As a result, both the Howland and Liberty basketball programs are expected to head into the 2016-17 season under new leadership.
Earlier this week Bubon resigned as the Leopards’ coach. Pending school board approval, Bubon will take over at Howland, which chose not to renew the contract of Jason Lee.
Liberty’s void was quickly filled by Kohl, who most recently coached at Mineral Ridge. Kohl has been a teacher at Liberty High School for the past 30 years.
His hire also is pending board approval.
Bubon began his coaching career at Warren Harding. He spent four years as the girls varsity coach, then another four seasons with the boys junior varsity program. He was the Champion head boys coach for eight seasons before moving on to Liberty in 2011.
“It’s never easy leaving anywhere, and that is especially true with Liberty,” Bubon said. “It’s a great school district and I have had a tremendous working relationship with the administration.”
“However, Howland is a job that has always interested me,” Bubon said. “The community has more children participating in youth sports than anywhere else around here. They take great pride in their athletics.
“I always believed that someone was going to catch lightning in a bottle in Howland if they stayed around long enough to see a few groups of kids move through the system.”
Establishing a program with continuity is something Howland has struggled with in recent times. Bubon, who teaches in the Warren City School System, will become the ninth Tigers coach in a 20-year span.
“I’m going into this with the intent of being at Howland for awhile. It takes awhile to build a program up and to build it the right way. I want to see this through,” Bubon said.
Howland not only faces the challenge of competing in the upper tier of the All-American Conference, it also competes in the postseason tournament at the Division I level.
“Other than Harding, I’ve faced all those [AAC] schools at Liberty, so I know what to expect,” Bubon said. “And on top of that, our goal is all about the process of getting better as players, people and as a team as the season moves on.”
“Every year in every division, about 199 of 200 schools end their season with a loss. If you’re in this just for the wins, you’re in it for the wrong reason.”
In taking over the Liberty program, Kohl is returning to his coaching roots. He began his career in 1988 as the Leopards’ freshmen coach. Stints followed as an assistant at Lordstown and Struthers before Kohl logged an eight-year run at Cardinal Mooney — including four years as the head coach. He then spent three years at Mineral Ridge before sitting out last season.
“I took a step back to recharge, and honestly it didn’t take long before I missed the kids and missed sitting in the office talking with the other coaches,” Kohl said. “Coaching has always been in my blood.”
Though Liberty has struggled in recent times, Kohl said he believes the potential exists to return the program to its winning ways.
“When I first started out coaching here, I saw Liberty advance all the way to the state title game,” Kohl said. “There is a rich athletic tradition here, and I believe the tradition and the desire is still ingrained within the student body.
“It’s always a bonus to be a teacher in the school you coach,” Kohl said. “I’ll be there for my players from the start of the day until they go home. They will know they can turn to me any time, and for any reason.”
Bubon is expected to be approved today at a Howland Board of Education meeting. Liberty will hold its next BOE meeting on June 27. Kohl noted that he will continue to hold open gym until the school board acts on his hiring.