First Posted: 3/1/2015
CINCINNATI — Just a few miles from downtown Cincinnati, right across the Eight Street Viaduct is Oyler High School. Go up the hill and you’ll find Elder and Western Hills High Schools.
Oyler, however, isn’t at the top of Price Hill. Instead, it’s tucked away in the cozy Lower Price Hill neighborhood.
The grade school has been there for ages, but Oyler High School was started just under a decade ago.
Oyler is the rather unlikely place where you’ll find Lima Central Catholic grads Chris O’Brien (LCC class of 2008), Matt Huffman (LCC class of 2008) and Jared Brown (LCC class of 2004) coaching basketball.
O’Brien is the head varsity boys basketball coach. Huffman is the assistant for the varsity and junior varsity. Brown is the junior varsity coach and assistant varsity coach.
The three came together this year when O’Brien was promoted from junior varsity to head coach.
The neighborhood has made for an interesting dynamic.
“They come from around Elder and Western Hills, from the lower east Price Hill, west Price Hill and some come from downtown,” O’Brien said. “It’s nothing like Shawnee or LCC. It’s a small public school with many lower-income families. We have a wide range of individuals.
“A lot of them are inner-city kids and I don’t see a lot of their parents. Some come from a rough background and some move every year.”
As for basketball, the former T-Birds have Oyler at 11-10 this year. Oyler, the No. 15 seed, opens the Division III sectional tournament against No. 2 seed Roger Bacon at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Western Brown High School.
O’Brien has a young, athletic squad, with only one senior.
“We have really good athletes, but they don’t have the basic skills yet to be very good varsity players,” O’Brien said. “They’re working on their basketball I.Q. They don’t have CYO or Little League here. They are hard workers, but don’t have that six, seven-year basketball background. Most of the grew up playing on the outdoor courts.”
O’Brien played football, basketball, wrestling and basketball through his JV season at LCC. The University of Cincinnati graduate is now teaching at Carson Elementary. O’Brien, who did his student teaching at Oyler, is also the head baseball coach at Oyler.
When O’Brien got the job last year, he immediately called his friend Huffman, who is at UC Law School.
“We grew up together and played together. When I was building it, I wanted like minds,” O’Brien said.
Added Huffman, “We grew up four blocks away and after a football win, I’d spend the night at his house.”
So far Huffman has been impressed with the team’s work ethic.
“All these kids are working as hard as I was when I was their age,” Huffman said. “They don’t have the role models or the people to hold them accountable. … You can tell that Chris is the most important role model to most of these kids. Chris holds them accountable and has helped them as people.”
O’Brien completed his staff with LCC grad Brown, who he also knew from Lima. Brown, played basketball and football at LCC and went on to graduate from West Virginia. He lives in Cincinnati, but travels all over Ohio selling life insurance.
“They’re all still learning,” Brown said. “Our best player, junior Mark Burgeon, who was first team all-conference, had never played organized ball before. He played in a recreation league. … It’s been rewarding and it’s been a lot of fun.”
Brown added that the offense and press came from former LCC coach Bob Seggerson. The running game was pulled from the playbook of LCC coach Frank Kill.
“We’re trying to bring that LCC flavor down here,” Brown said.
All three coaches have seen improvements on and off the floor this year. Oyler is 7-3 over their last 10 games.
“We feel we’re influencing them, not just on a sporting level, but as young men,” O’Brien said.
