Westlake’s Jeff Short reached a milestone in baseball as a coach that many only dream of, getting his 250th win this past spring. (West Life photo by Larry Bennet)

Coaches credit kids, staff after reaching milestones
By Matt Pawlikowski
Sports
Published June 20, 2007

They are modest and won’t tell you they are good. Maybe after a day in the classroom, it’s their way of thinking; perhaps hitting the gym or fields with their students and molding them into winners is just fun to them, and not a job.

Still, when you talk about how good they are and what they have been able to accomplish, they are quick to defer credit to their team, or assistants, and even sometimes to people behind the scenes.

But when it comes down to it, this year five Westshore coaches, Westlake’s Jeff Short in baseball, Rocky River’s Jeff Sinema in tennis, St. Edward’s Brian Flannery in basketball, St. Ed’s Greg Urbas in wrestling and Lutheran West’s Karen Wittrock in basketball, each accomplished something that many do not — hitting a coveted milestone in their coaching careers.

If you talk to Short about what he accomplished, he, like all the great coaches out there, declines to take credit.

“It is a nice accomplishment,” he said not long after winning his 250th game as a coach. “But I’ve had a lot of good players over the years, kids who are willing to work hard.”

But it’s hard to deny that getting 250 wins as a baseball coach in Northeast Ohio isn’t the easiest thing.

Short said the best thing about his tenure at Westlake is the fact so many of his players have gone on and played at the college level. Over the past 18 years, the Westlake baseball program has had over 40 players continue their baseball experience in college.

Short was born, raised and attended school in Archbold, a small town in northwest Ohio.  He earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Toledo in 1986, majoring in elementary education. He is currently in his 18th year as a sixth-grade teacher in the Westlake district, which is something that adds to his success.

Just how successful is he?

In addition to getting the 250th win, over the past 13 years, the Westlake baseball team has made it to districts nine times. In ’94, ’95, ’02 and ’03, they were district runners-up. In 1996, the team was the conference champs, advancing all the way to the regional finals. The team returned to regional play in 1999. In all, Short has had 15 winning seasons, and in 2006, they were SWC champs.

Sinema’s record is incredible. “Wow” is the only word to describe it, as this year he became the best coach in the state of Ohio, posting his 700th win.

“That was very nice,” said Sinema after he found out about the mark. “The kids have been the key over the years, but I am very humbled by this.”

 The funny thing is that Sinema never planned on being a head coach in tennis; it kind of happened on a whim back in 1974.

“To be truthful, it was sort of a lark,” he said. “The guy who had coached before me had left, and I was coming off the football field one day, and our athletic director at the time came down and said ‘I’m going to make you tennis coach in the spring.’ I thought I’d be just a stop-gap guy.”

But he grew fond of the sport, and that stop-gap became permanent. Sinema traveled to many coaching clinics and read up on the sport. Since that fateful day, he has been elected president of the tennis coaches association and inducted into the tennis coaches hall of fame.

Asked what his fondest moment has been as coach, he said there are many because he has enjoyed mentoring all the kids who have come through his program, but a few come to mind.

“My fondest would probably have to be Saumil Jahauri,” he said. “He made it to Columbus three years, and played at Ohio State. He was third at state, and also teamed with Kevin McDougal when he was a sophomore to take third in doubles.”

He also cited the doubles team of Tom Jalics and Azim Nakodoa, who also made it to Columbus.

“The irony of everything,” Sinema said, “is that when we had a really good team, we never could win a conference title in the Southwestern Conference. We always came in second to Medina when they were a powerhouse.”

In a day and age where lack of respect and video games consume kids’ worlds, Sinema said it’s the opposite with his program, and another reason he enjoys coaching so much.

“We’ve had good quality kids, and the parents have been real cooperative off the court,” he said. Sinema, who is also the events manager at Rocky River, has coached seven other sports while at the school, and has been head coach of three teams — boys and girls tennis along with hockey.

He also said coaching a sport like tennis in the spring is tough because of the weather.

“The kids can’t get acclimated to the weather,” he said. “It’s warm, it’s cold, it’s hot. But it’s the way spring is in Northeast Ohio.”

There were some rumors that this might be his last season as a coach, but Sinema said they are false; he plans on being with the Pirates for a few more years.

“It will be a couple of more years,” he said. “I was committed to the kids I have here now until they were seniors. Next year I’m really looking forward to it because it will be the first time that I have the kids of a parent I coached, as Jim Meyers, who played football and basketball for me, [his] sons are coming out for the team, so that will be nice.”

Flannery, a native of Lakewood, hit 200 wins as a coach this year, one of the youngest in the history of Ohio to do so. But like his peers who also reached milestones this year, he, too, is modest, and just feels fortunate to have gotten to the point where he is, including being tabbed D-I coach of the year for the job he did last year in leading the Eagles to the state Final Four.

“It does mean a lot, getting 200 wins, and also the award this year,” said Flannery. “But the thing about it is the fact I have great players who are great kids and also have great support of assistant coaches. I truly believe I have one of the best staffs in the state of Ohio.”

Flannery is living what you might call the American Dream. Not only did he play for the Eagles, but he also was an assistant prior to becoming the head coach as just a 23-year-old during the 1996-97 season. Since that time, his teams have had an impressive 200-64 slate, with one state title (1998) and three final four appearances.

While some say that it is easy to accomplish that task considering he is at a parochial school and is able to recruit, Flannery shuns that contention.

“When you are at a Catholic school, people will tend to make that assumption,” he said. “I’d like to think that since we’ve come here that we’ve had an impact as to why kids want to come, in addition to the fact they want a great education and want to be part of something special. I’m not just one who is going to go out and get kids and promise them things. We want kids here who want to be serious about academics and the game of basketball.”

Asked how he got his interest in the game of baskeball, Flannery just laughed.
“I was a demented young man,” he said. “When I was 3 or 4, I think, I first picked up a basketball. And since where we grew up in Lakewood the driveway was shaped like a three point arc, I’d spend three or four hours a day in the rain and even snow. I did come from a very competitive family, though, and that also helped.”

Wittrock is one of the more respected coaches in the area, and why not? She is the dean of area women’s basketball coaches. This year marked the 40th year that she has been at the helm of Longhorn basketball. Although she sported a youthful team, Lutheran West still managed to finish the year with a 9-9 slate, including 9-4 in the Patriot Athletic Conference, which was good enough for second in the Stripes Division. Wittrock’s career record now stands at 648-187 for an incredible 78 percent winning percentage.

And finally Greg Urbas. When it comes to being humble, he takes the cake by deferring credit to the kids who wrestle under him and his assistant coaches. Still, it’s hard to deny what he has done with the St. Ed’s wrestling program.
When Urbas, the freshman coach, was tabbed for the head-coaching job after Howard Ferguson’s death in 1989, there were many who wondered what would happen to the program. Ferguson created it in 1975 and built a powerhouse.

Admittedly, he was nervous, but he knew what had to be done.

Today, the Eagle dynasty has won 11 consecutive state titles. This year they did what no other team has done in the history of the state meet and sent the entire team to Columbus. And if that isn’t impressive enough, Urbas tied his mentor’s mark for most state titles with 11.

The school now boosts 83 state champions. To show just how modest he is, when asked how many of those came under his guidance, he wouldn’t answer. Instead he said these words.

“We look at it as the program,” he said. “It doesn’t matter how many I’ve had. I have a great coaching staff, starting with coach Hefferehan, who has done a great job with the kids.”

Urbas wouldn’t say who his favorite wrestler is. But he is very fond of these 2007 seniors. Not for what they accomplished on the mats, but for what they did in the classroom.

“If you look at the schools the kids are going to, it shows how academics come before athletics at St. Ed’s,’’ Urban said. “But what I am most proud of is when the kids come back and sit in the stands. It gives me goosebumps. They are the ones who can tell us if we are living up to the tradition here.”