Basketball coaches Terry Rowe of Garaway and Matt Ward of Tusky Valley are a perfect example of the saying, “Bloom where you’re planted.”
Rowe and Ward are living the dream of coaching at their alma maters, and not only have they bloomed at their respective schools but flourished.
Both recently reached career milestones when they won their 300th games as head coaches — Rowe as head coach of the Garaway boys basketball team, and Ward with the Tusky Valley girls basketball squad.
Rowe reached the 300-win club when his Garaway Pirates whipped West Holmes, 81-46, in their first game of the season in Sugarcreek on Dec. 3. Meanwhile, Ward reached No. 300 when his Tusky Valley girls rolled past Ridgewood, 54-29, on Dec. 7 in Zoarville.
Both head coaches were very humble when asked about reaching those landmark wins. They credited the many great players and people who helped mold their coaching philosophies over the years.
“We’ve had players that have worked hard for us,” said Rowe, who is in his ninth year as Garaway’s head coach and previously coached the boys’ programs at Caldwell and Kenton as well as the Marlington girls team. “We’ve worked hard in developing players. When I was in high school, I always wanted to be a social studies teacher and a head basketball coach, and I’m fortunate that at my age I’m still doing the things that I wanted to do in high school, and that’s neat. I’m just glad I’ve had the opportunity to coach young men and develop game plans to just try and make the team better.
“I’ve just always had the love for basketball,” Rowe said. “I think growing up there were a lot of good coaches in our area, some of them still doing it, and those guys probably had an influence (in him coaching). I can remember being in my 20’s and working at the Eastern Ohio Camp and seeing those coaches in the 1990’s work with teams and develop teams.”
“I just loved athletics and sports,” said Ward, now in his 23rd year as the Tusky Valley girls coach of his keen early interest in the sport of basketball. “Coach Steve Franks was our boys coach for a long time when I first took over, and I learned a lot from him throughout the years. I was lucky to have some good coaches, like Donnie Spinell and Ted Majestic when I was in high school and I learned a lot from those guys, too.”
Both successful head coaches talked of the individual highlights of their careers thus far. Rowe has coached four district title teams at Garaway and won numerous sectional crowns as well.
“There’s a couple tough losses we’ve had in the regional where we were just one bucket away from going to Columbus or Dayton and the state Final 4 and those games kind of stick out,” Rowe said. “Every once in a while, I’ll have players text me that they’re thinking about that game. But looking back, there’s a number of neat wins where kids made tough shots down the stretch. There’s too many to say there’s just one (highlight).”
Meanwhile, Ward has guided 11 Tusky Valley teams to sectional titles, and his teams have claimed six Inter Valley Conference crowns and one district championship.
“It’s probably the district title (a 47-46 Tusky Valley win over Barnesville in 2016-2017) when we went to the regional,” Ward said of his top coaching highlight. “It’s just how that game ended where it was such a back-and-forth game, and it came down to some missed free throws. There’s been a lot of ups and downs. There have been some heartbreakers and some buzzer-beaters that went our way. It’s pretty special just with the kids that we have. Every year we come back, and it’s still fun, and I really enjoy it.”
Both coaches said having good assistant coaches has been another key to their successes.
“My three assistant coaches this year all played for me at Garaway,” said Rowe of the importance of continuity in a successful program.
“I have had a lot of assistant coaches that helped get this thing on the right track,” Ward said. “From the past to the current staff. I have been very fortunate to be surrounded by great coaches and players.”
When you’re a modern-day high school coach, your responsibilities are many and having your family buy in to things such as time away from home is paramount. Both Rowe and Ward say they are blessed in that regard with families that are all in on basketball.
“My wife, Amber, is an awesome coach’s wife,” Rowe said. “She’s very behind the scenes working on fundraisers and team feeds. I was a head coach for six years (at Caldwell) when we got married, so she kind of saw and knew what she was getting into, and she’s been awesome. And we have three sons, and they all play basketball.
“One’s a junior, one’s a freshman and one’s a seventh-grader, so right now our life is hopping. Last week, six of the seven days we had either a seventh grade, freshman or JV-varsity game (with family involved). Our household is definitely going in different directions every night it seems.”
“I’ve never left (Tusky Valley),” said Ward. “I teach here, and we live in the district, and all three of my daughters go there and my wife teaches here, too. My wife, Misty, has been through it all (in the basketball journey) with me from the beginning. And she’s obviously had to listen to the criticisms and everything, and as a coach’s wife, she understands. And now with my kids, everyone is involved, and it’s nice. I have a freshman on the JV team and a junior (on the varsity) and then my other daughter is one of the ball girls, and they’re all here.”
Always concentrating on his team and not himself, Rowe didn’t tell anyone in advance of his 300th win.
“No one really knew and my wife didn’t know until she read the postgame site,” he said. “I told coach Huffman, who does our book and does our (online) posts, I guess you better put that in there, so I don’t get yelled at about not saying anything about it. So, yeah, it was extremely low key. When word did get out, I had various players and assistant coaches that I coached with in the other schools who all reached out, and that was pretty neat.”
Such was the case with Ward, who is focused on his players and not himself.
“I’m just glad I did it (reaching 300) with this group of kids,” he said. “They made me feel special with it. It’s not something I was really thinking about a whole lot. There are bigger things ahead for us, but it’s just another number, and we’re looking forward to more.”
With coaches like Rowe and Ward, you can count on that happening.
