New coach, new faces for WHS boys basketball team

It’s a new era for Wooster’s boys basketball team this season as Ché Richardson takes the whistle as the Generals’ head coach. He won’t be the only new face on the bench.

Wooster will return just three letterwinners from a team that last year was 9-12 overall. The Generals saw their top four players move on in one way or another. Caleb Scott and Blake Bowen graduated. Both were second-team All-Ohio Cardinal Conference choices. Tyler Bonner, who received an all-conference honorable mention, also graduated. Luke Snowbarger, an all-conference honorable mention recipient a year ago as a junior, transferred to Triway.

“We are very inexperienced and will need to mature very quickly,” Richardson said. “I think with time we will adjust to the grind of a varsity season and be where we need to be.”

Back in the fold among letterwinners are junior guard Brady Bowen and senior forwards Aiden Holford and Ethan Shetler. Newcomers looking to make their mark will be senior guard Anthony Sines and junior forwards Anthony Carmean and Jack Dossi.

Wooster finished 6-8 in the OCC a year ago, which left the Generals tied for fourth in the conference with Madison. Lexington and New Philadelphia tied atop the standings at 12-2.

The Generals are trying to regain some of the magic they had in 2019-20 and 2020-21 when they won back-to-back championships.

“As long as we compete every night and play like we are supposed to, I do not see a reason why we are not competing for a league title,” Richardson said.

Richardson pictures a team that gets up and down the court in a hurry, extending what the Generals have done in the past.

“We will continue to build on that this year,” he said. “We also know to be able to compete in tournaments, we will need to be better in the half court at times, and that means being able to get multiple stops in a row. This team plays hard and gives it their all every night. We are a very competitive and scrappy team.”

Richardson is taking over a program that is inexperienced, but that doesn’t have to be a bad thing. The new coach will get a couple years with the bulk of his roster, with only three seniors on the squad.

With just the three letterwinners in the fold, the Generals will offer plenty of opportunities to the newcomers and younger players. There may be season-long, roster-wide competition for minutes until Richardson can settle on a lineup.

Richardson spent the past four years as an assistant at Canton McKinley, his alma mater, before a solid career at Malone University. He replaces Michael Snowbarger, who led the Generals to the 9-12 season last year but won three OCC championships in his eight years.

Wheelchair

Wooster’s wheelchair program will look to continue its dominance after a 15-0 season a year ago, which culminated in its fifth state championship. Coach Brett Followay’s squad saw a trio of letterwinners move on.

“We had three starters graduate last year, so we will be much younger this season,” Followay said. “I expect we will still be a very good defensive team, which has always been our strong point. But we will need a couple of the younger players to step up on offense. Scoring will be our biggest challenge this year. Our three seniors that graduated did the bulk of the scoring for us in the past.”