Boys basketball: Lance Price to be new Cloverleaf coach

Lance Price has spent 20 years in coaching preparing for this moment. The 45-year-old Price, the senior grounds leader at Westfield Insurance, was approved Wednesday by the Cloverleaf Board of Education to become the next Colts boys basketball coach. Price's Cloverleaf roots run deep. Before serving as Springfield girls basketball head coach for the last two seasons, he was an assistant under Colts girls head coach John Carmigiano for 15 years prior to taking two seasons to coach his son Kellen on the middle school boys team. In addition to Kellen, who will be a junior on this year's team, his older son Owen graduated in June and will attend Heidelberg and wrestle. "This is a lifelong dream to be a head varsity coach in this community," Price said. "I put two kids through Cloverleaf, so being close to family and this community is always something I dreamt about. Being on the girls side with John Carmigiano for 15 years really set me up for this. "The last two years going away (to Springfield) it was always, 'How can I get back to Cloverleaf.' Not that Springfield did anything wrong, but Cloverleaf was where the kids were." The Buckeye alumnus takes over for Jack Banks, who resigned to accept the boys head coaching job at Rittman. In nine seasons under Banks, the Colts went 97-105, including 87-69 in his last seven seasons. Price said his familiarity with his players, many of whom he has coached since the third grade, will make the transition a smooth one. He also wants to build on the aggressive defense and transition offense that helped Cloverleaf average a school-record 68.4 points last season. While the Colts have to fill in the holes left by five graduating seniors, including 1,000-point scorer Marty Moran, Price is confident in the work ethic of the team and spoke highly of incoming junior Isaac Smith, who scored 609 points over his first two seasons. "We want to play great defense and play fast," Price said. "Any kid that steps on the court is going to give 110%. They've got to buy in and when they hit the court they are giving everything they've got. I want to be the hardest-working team in the (Metro Athletic Conference). Winning 50/50 balls, those are the things we're going to be known for." The other asset he said he has on his side is the mentoring he has received from Cloverleaf coaches like Carmigiano, longtime girls assistant Jeff Patterson, football coach Justin Vorhies and cross country and track and field coach Garth Gucker. "Justin, John and Jeff are a huge asset for me," Price said. "Another great one that I've leaned on this offseason is Garth Gucker. We talked about the community and I've made all those relationships. Knowing that I have them to go to with any questions has been enormous." With the MAC rival Spartans, Price went 18-28. The Spartans were 20-71 over the four seasons prior to his arrival. He also continued to coach the Cloverleaf Middle School football team during that time. "I want to develop great young men," Price said of taking the basketball job. "Obviously, we're in a very highly competitive sport, but as much as the winning is great, the academics and everything else comes first and basketball fits in with that." Contact John Urchek at jurchek@medina-gazette.com.