Berkshire boys basketball: Joe Montanaro becomes new head coach
Jul. 27—It's been six years since Joe Montanaro was at the helm of a boys basketball team. But that all changes when next year begins.
Montanaro was named the new head coach at Berkshire and approved by the school board in the June meeting. He takes over a Badgers team that was in contention to win the Chagrin Valley Conference Valley division last season but finished second behind Kirtland.
Montanaro was the head coach at North from 2007 to 2016 where he won two Premier Athletic Conference championships and was a two time PAC coach of the year. After his time leading the Rangers, he went to be an assistant coach at Harvey and the head coach at Shore Middle School in Mentor.
"At Harvey with Dave Wojciechowski we won a conference title there. That got me excited about coaching again," said Montanaro. "I was looking around for different jobs and I did some research when the Berkshire job opened up. I saw that there was a good young core coming back and they won 10 games last year. I met with the administration, which is one of the best administrations I've been around for basketball and I was really excited for the opportunity."
While he already had over a decade of head coaching experience, being under the likes of Wojciechoski and others allowed Montanaro to learn. He has already begun to implement what he's learned under the likes of Wojciechoski and others for this year's Berkshire team.
"I try to learn a lot wherever I go and I was able to learn a lot at the places I was at," said Montanaro. "As a basketball coach I started at Edgewood and took a lot of stuff from John Hall and Al Runyon and learned a lot from them. At Harvey, I learned a lot about organizational skills and how to schedule a practice. Then at Mentor I learned about positivity and keeping the goals high which I am already doing at Berkshire."
The Badgers are coming off a season in which they went 10-13 and 7-4 in conference play but were eliminated in a sectional semifinal. Their road to improve on their postseason performance became more challenging with the additions of Perry, Chagrin Falls and Lake Catholic, which moved to Division III in the realignment.
With a still challenging conference schedule and more hurdles in their way, Montanaro knows that there is a lot of work for his team to do. But he highlighted the work that the Badgers put in during the summer period as helping them make progress to challenge for that top spot.
"Being able to open the doors to the gym and get them in there more has been a big thing for us this summer," said Montanaro. "We've done a lot of open gyms and played in the Perry league to help myself get familiar with the players. Then in September we're going to transition to four-man workouts and see them continue to buy into the program. They've been very receptive to everything so far and that is going to help us go to the next level."
Berkshire doesn't just have to deal with Kirtland at the top of the division, but also the likes of Cardinal, Wickliffe and Grand Valley. Montanaro knows that last season experience for a young group of players will pay dividends early in the season.
Also, with a new gym for all of Berkshire sports, Montanaro has seen his players be rejuvenated and buying in to his high goals.
"It's a very similar situation to when I took over at North," said Montanaro. "In my second year we played three or four sophomores just like Berkshire did last year. You need to take steps forward and when you got the experience like they did last year, we're going to get better. The conference is tough with great coaches and players. But we're setting those goals high and they are more excited than ever about basketball. Add in the new facilities that I think are the best in Northeast Ohio and we have one of the best home court advantages as well."
