SHL honors Coach Dave Young
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The Highland County Press
The Southern Hills League has honored longtime basketball coach David Young of North Adams High School, with a presentation at the Green Devils' home game on Dec. 9.
Coach Young, who retired following the 2010-11 season, coached for 27 years, and posted an overall record of 403-189.
During his years at North Adams, Young's record was 356-168. He also coached the Whiteoak Wildcats, and coached or assisted at programs at West Union, East Clinton, Waverly and Minford.
Young's teams had nine Southern Hills League championships, 17 sectional championships, three district championships, one regional championships, one state Final Four, and two undefeated seasons.
Young was a nine-time SHL Coach of the Year, and four times was selected as District Coach of the Year, and was also voted Division III state Coach of the Year. He also was an Ohio North/South all-star coach and Ohio/Kentucky all-star coach.
"The Southern Hills League Board of Directors and all the member schools congratulate Coach David Young and wish him the best in his retirement," said Jerry Lewis, Southern Hills League commissioner.
"North Adams was a place where the school and community accepted me and my style of coaching," Coach Young told The Highland County Press earlier this year.
"I became a coach because I wasn't a great player, and when I started college, I was in law enforcement and switched to pre-law. Then I decided what I really wanted to do was coaching, so I thought the best way to get into that was to become a teacher."
Young, a 1972 graduate of West Union, came back to his alma mater after getting his teaching degree at Eastern Kentucky University, where he became the junior high coach. Young left West Union after four seasons and became the junior high coach at East Clinton for one season. Following his stint at East Clinton, Young became the varsity coach at Whiteoak for the next two seasons.
After Whiteoak, he coached one season at Minford at the varsity level, then he went down a level, coaching JV for two seasons in Waverly. Following Waverly, Young began his legacy at North Adams, which lasted for 24 consecutive seasons.
The teaching of Young in the classroom included physical education and junior high science in the seventh and eighth grades. The full schedule of coaching and teaching included terms of being a baseball, golf and a junior high track coach.
"My teams were known for playing hard, whether they were winning or losing," he said. "I expected that, and I told my players, 'Give me what you got, and we'll figure out a way to use it.' I wanted my teams to represent the school in a good way, and we weren't going to have players with tattoos and their pants hanging down in pre-game. I know that's a little bit of old-school, and that wasn't accepted too well in the last couple years.
"But I wanted North Adams to have the stamp of 'we played hard.' I wasn't going to make them play a style they weren't capable of playing, but we were going to play hard."
One team for Young stands out more than the others, and that is the 1995-96 team that reached the state Final Four. Other teams he said that stand out are the '90, '93 and the '08-'09 team.
The 1996 Green Devils finished the season with the one loss in the state tournament, which ended on a controversial shot as the buzzer sounded.
"Our '96 team … it was one of those freak things that came together at once. We had height in the post, and we were 20-0 in the regular season," Young said.
During that season, only one win was by less than 10 points, a game against Ripley.
In his time at North Adams, Young said he is most proud of the fact his players won 17 sectional titles, saying "most teams said their goal is to reach the Convo (the Ohio University Convocation Center in Athens), and our kids did it 17 times."
"When you look over at the wall on the court at North Adams with all the banners, you realize how many great players and great fans we've had here," Young said.[[In-content Ad]]
The Southern Hills League has honored longtime basketball coach David Young of North Adams High School, with a presentation at the Green Devils' home game on Dec. 9.
Coach Young, who retired following the 2010-11 season, coached for 27 years, and posted an overall record of 403-189.
During his years at North Adams, Young's record was 356-168. He also coached the Whiteoak Wildcats, and coached or assisted at programs at West Union, East Clinton, Waverly and Minford.
Young's teams had nine Southern Hills League championships, 17 sectional championships, three district championships, one regional championships, one state Final Four, and two undefeated seasons.
Young was a nine-time SHL Coach of the Year, and four times was selected as District Coach of the Year, and was also voted Division III state Coach of the Year. He also was an Ohio North/South all-star coach and Ohio/Kentucky all-star coach.
"The Southern Hills League Board of Directors and all the member schools congratulate Coach David Young and wish him the best in his retirement," said Jerry Lewis, Southern Hills League commissioner.
"North Adams was a place where the school and community accepted me and my style of coaching," Coach Young told The Highland County Press earlier this year.
"I became a coach because I wasn't a great player, and when I started college, I was in law enforcement and switched to pre-law. Then I decided what I really wanted to do was coaching, so I thought the best way to get into that was to become a teacher."
Young, a 1972 graduate of West Union, came back to his alma mater after getting his teaching degree at Eastern Kentucky University, where he became the junior high coach. Young left West Union after four seasons and became the junior high coach at East Clinton for one season. Following his stint at East Clinton, Young became the varsity coach at Whiteoak for the next two seasons.
After Whiteoak, he coached one season at Minford at the varsity level, then he went down a level, coaching JV for two seasons in Waverly. Following Waverly, Young began his legacy at North Adams, which lasted for 24 consecutive seasons.
The teaching of Young in the classroom included physical education and junior high science in the seventh and eighth grades. The full schedule of coaching and teaching included terms of being a baseball, golf and a junior high track coach.
"My teams were known for playing hard, whether they were winning or losing," he said. "I expected that, and I told my players, 'Give me what you got, and we'll figure out a way to use it.' I wanted my teams to represent the school in a good way, and we weren't going to have players with tattoos and their pants hanging down in pre-game. I know that's a little bit of old-school, and that wasn't accepted too well in the last couple years.
"But I wanted North Adams to have the stamp of 'we played hard.' I wasn't going to make them play a style they weren't capable of playing, but we were going to play hard."
One team for Young stands out more than the others, and that is the 1995-96 team that reached the state Final Four. Other teams he said that stand out are the '90, '93 and the '08-'09 team.
The 1996 Green Devils finished the season with the one loss in the state tournament, which ended on a controversial shot as the buzzer sounded.
"Our '96 team … it was one of those freak things that came together at once. We had height in the post, and we were 20-0 in the regular season," Young said.
During that season, only one win was by less than 10 points, a game against Ripley.
In his time at North Adams, Young said he is most proud of the fact his players won 17 sectional titles, saying "most teams said their goal is to reach the Convo (the Ohio University Convocation Center in Athens), and our kids did it 17 times."
"When you look over at the wall on the court at North Adams with all the banners, you realize how many great players and great fans we've had here," Young said.[[In-content Ad]]