First Posted: 1/23/2015
Former OSU-Lima men’s basketball coach Mike Piatt unexpectedly returned to being a head basketball coach for the first time in eight years last week.
Piatt, who coached OSU-Lima in 1990-91, was named interim coach for the rest of the season at Tippecanoe High School in Tipp City after head coach Jim Staley resigned on Jan. 18. He was in his first year as an assistant at Tippecanoe.
Tipp City was 2-10 with Staley as coach. The 64-year-old was in his first year at the school.
Staley has 542 career wins and is a member of the Ohio High School Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame. He was 326-158 with six league championships and four district championships in 21 seasons at Centerville.
His coaching contract was not renewed at Centerville in 2012 and he did not coach for two years before coming to Tipp City.
“I was very appreciative that Joe brought me to Tippecanoe,” Piatt told the Troy Daily News. “I would have preferred to become the head coach under different circumstances. But like we told the kids, things happen, and you just have to move on and keep playing hard.”
Piatt was head coach at Lehman Catholic in Sidney from 2002-2007 and also has been an assistant coach at the Miami Valley School and Chaminade-Julienne. He is a partner in BD Capital Partners, LLC.
A few other notes:
• Lima Central Catholic self-reported a minor violation of OHSAA rules by wrestling coach Nick Sanchez, which resulted in the Thunderbirds losing two days of off-season contact between the coaching staff and the wrestlers.
The slap-on-the-wrist type penalty was imposed for coaching outside the season in an open tournament.
“We reported that ourselves,” LCC athletic director Ron Williams said. “There were five other coaches there. That’s why he thought it was OK.”
The OHSAA reduced LCC’s off-season contact to eight days from 10.
• Quarterback Torrance Gibson, an Ohio State verbal commitment from Plantation, Fla., is taking a visit to LSU this weekend after visiting Auburn last week.
Gibson is perhaps exploring all his options because of the possibility of quarterbacks Braxton Miller, J.T. Barrett and Cardale Jones all being in uniform for OSU this fall.
While Gibson’s recruiting trips might be making Ohio State fans nervous, Detroit Cass Tech running back Mike Weber might let them breathe a little easier.
Weber, who originally committed to Michigan then flipped to Ohio State, told the Detroit News that he has talked with new Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh but that he remained committed to OSU and did not expect to make an official visit to Ann Arbor.
• Braxton Miller has enrolled for classes this semester at Ohio State but that does not close out the possibility that Miller, who has already graduated, could still transfer to another school and play next season.
As pointed out by Bob Hunter of the Columbus Dispatch, Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson transferred to Wisconsin from North Carolina State in June in 2011. In fact, it was almost July. Wilson announced his decision on June 28.
