Carla Siegel led the Fort Loramie Redskins to their fourth Division IV state title. (Press Pros Feature Photos)
It really comes as no surprise…Fort Loramie’s Carla Siegel and Russia’s Spencer Cordonnier reprise history as our Press Pros area basketball coaches of the year.
Fort Loramie’s Carla Siegel is our Press Pros 2024 girls Area Coach of The Year, and it really shouldn’t come as a surprise.
One, she’s now led the Redskins to four Division IV state titles in basketball, (2013, ’15, ’21, and ’24).
Two, she led her latest title winner to a record of 28-2 with a team that was decidedly different from past title winners.
And three, as always she did it against unquestionable competition, in and outside the Shelby County League.
But in our opinion, this was her best coaching performance in her storied career at Loramie ( 545 wins ), with a team that was different, personality-wise, from different teams.
“But,” said Siegel throughout the year, “This a team that’s fun to coach because they get along so well. They genuinely cheer for each other, care for each other, and pull for each other to succeed. I think that offsets some of the things you can think of that’s different about them.’
One thing about it, they were coachable, as they escaped some close calls (Russia in the regional round, and Convoy Crestview in the state semi-final), only to come back and crush their opponent in the regional and state finals.
“They’ve grown up around this program, and they know the expectations,” adds Siegel. “Sometimes you really don’t have to do that much coaching. They just need to be reminded.”
“You know what you’re up against when you play Carla’s teams,” said Crestview coach Mark Gregory, following his team’s ouster from the state Final Four. “You know the pressure is coming and there’s not a lot you can do. It’s a hard thing to imitate in practice.”
They’re very committed to their style of play, says any number of area coaches who play against Loramie. “And that’s Carla Siegel,” says Tri-Village’s Brad Gray. “She’s done such a good job of selling it.”
And she’s hardly done. A classroom teacher at Loramie, she has a few years left before that ultimate day comes, and for now she covets the competition and the opportunity to teach basketball as much as she does seventh graders.
And as much as they enjoy winning at Loramie, no one’s really that anxious to see her go.
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Our 2024 boys Coach of The Year is a repeater…Russia High School’s Spencer Cordonnier, who led the Raiders to a record of 27-2 before falling the state semi-final round for a second year in a row to Richmond Heights.
And while some could nominate others worthy of like recognition, Cordonnier and company met every challenge set forth before the season began…the greatest being the general expectation by everyone in west-central Ohio that they would return to the OHSAA Final Four.
“Sometimes we just sat back and watched to see what they could do on their own.” – Spencer Cordonnier.
The fact that they lost to the same Richmond Heights team is no demerit at all, because every team at the state tournament, Division I through IV, stood a better than 50-50 chance of losing to Richmond Heights. In fact, the Spartans defeated the Division I champs, Cleveland St. Ignatius during the regular season, 74-69, and last year’s Division II champs, Akron Buchtel, 84-63.
“Really, we just went out a lot of times and let them run,” said Cordonnier of his experience-laden team during the season. “Sometimes we just sat back and watched to see what they could do on their own.”
There weren’t that many close calls as the Raiders run-and-score offense and their smothering physical defense defeated all but one team (Anna 48-52) by an average of nearly 30 points.
And they had their chances for three quarters of the state semi-final game, hampered immeasurably by their inability to hit free throws in that game. Ultimately, they lost by 13 points, 65-52.
Probably no team in the state, in any division, had a more enjoyable year, and no coach considered himself more privileged to be their coach. Regardless of who you had in mind, it’s hard not to like the choice of Spencer Cordonnier.
Our congratulations for being Press Pros’ area boys Coach of The Year for 2024.
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