Former Worthington Christian coach Weakley to lead Northside Christian boys basketball
Although he didn’t coach this winter after leading the Worthington Christian boys basketball team to a 383-161 record in 22 seasons, Kevin Weakley sensed he would someday return to the bench.
Weakley, 47, didn’t have long to wait. On Saturday, he was named Northside Christian's coach as the successor to Ryan Vanderwarker, who stepped down after going 36-14 in two seasons.
Weakley, a 1994 Worthington Christian graduate and former player for the Warriors, also had served as the school’s athletic director since the 2006-07 school year before stepping down last fall. School leaders believed he no longer could serve in both roles, Weakley said at the time, leading to his resignation.
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“Northside Christian has made a commitment to athletics,” Weakley said. “That’s always something that a coach is looking for when they’re looking at a job. I just have a lot to be thankful for in taking over that program because the administration, athletic director Ron Leach and coach Ryan Vanderwarker have been really good to me. As a program, they have done a lot of really good things to build over the last couple of years, and hopefully I can go in and build upon what they have done.”
Weakley said his son Grant, an eighth-grader and basketball player, will enroll at Northside Christian next school year.
“My wife (Anne Marie) and I were trying to base our decision (on coaching) on what we were going to do with our son for school,” Weakley said.
“Coach Weakley has been part of the Columbus basketball community for the past 35 years, coaching, hosting clinics and providing camps and leagues for hundreds of basketball players,” Leach said. “I look forward to partnering with him in helping build Northside’s basketball program.”
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Vanderwarker guided the Lions to their first district and MOCAL titles this past season. They lost 52-50 to Berlin Hiland in a Division IV regional final to finish 23-4.
The Lions were led by 6-7 sophomore guard Landon Vanderwarker, the coach’s son, who averaged 22.8 points, 11.7 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 2.7 steals. He was named Player of the Year in the district and MOCAL and first-team all-state.
“I planned on stepping down as long as the right coach took the job,” coach Vanderwarker said. “The opportunity to disciple young people’s hearts through the game of basketball has been a privilege. Unfortunately in life, you have to make hard decisions sometimes. For me, the decision to step away from coaching after this past season has been a difficult but necessary one. It’s time to be just dad.”
Worthington Christian was Division IV state runner-up in 1994 when Weakley was a senior and made it back to the championship game in 2008 (Division IV) and 2021 (Division III) under his coaching, losing in the state final each time.
“I’ve had the privilege of coaching a lot of really good players and I’ve had several good bosses over the years,” Weakley said. “When you’re a coach at a school, a prerequisite for being competitive is obviously some talent, but you have to have leaders who support you and you have to have players who have some talent and are coachable. I have both of those things at Northside Christian.”
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Kevin Weakley named Northside Christian boys basketball coach
