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Trinity returning talent in 2015

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A much-anticipated coaching hire finally occurred March 5 when Trinity found its replacement for Ryan Coyle.

The school board approved the hiring of Jon Miller, 38, who was an assistant coach at Bethel Park last year. Miller was the head coach at Moon for two seasons (2009-10) and had previous coaching stints at Canon-McMillan, Upper St. Clair and North Hills.

Like Coyle, Miller learned from some of the better head coaches in the WPIAL. He brings an incredible knowledge of the game and will bring a strong staff to Trinity.

On paper, the hire makes sense, but will it help the Hillers return to the Class AAA playoffs? Personally, I’m not so sure. It usually takes a head coach at least three seasons to orchestrate a turnaround.

Miller will certainly benefit from inheriting a program with a ton of talent returning. Some of those players include Joey Koroly, Sam Trapuzzano, Mac Chambers and Toby Cullings.

When camp opens in August, Trinity will likely be one of my first destinations. I’m curious to see who will be the starting quarterback, what the defense will look like and there will certainly be some new players to watch out for.

One of the bigger questions entering the 2014 season was how Ringgold would look with Matt Humbert gone and Nick Milchovich taking over. The talent was certainly there, but how would the coaching change affect the team’s play? Well, Ringgold reached the WPIAL Class AAA semifinals.

Can the same improvement be made at Trinity? Only time will tell.

All-district basketball

The Observer-Reporter’s all-district basketball teams will be released in the Sun., March 29 edition. It will include players of the year, three all-district teams and the area’s leading scorers.

I will post the leading scorers list on the blog later this week. I’m waiting on a few coaches to get back to me. Some of the numbers were surprising. A few players flew under the radar throughout the season, but finished with some strong stats.

This year was very difficult. You could make a case for 10 players to make first team in both boys and girls.

The PIAA Basketball Championships wrapped up this weekend and the WPIAL was shut out in boys basketball. Aliquippa losing was the biggest surprise, but the weekend displayed quite trend.

District 12 (Philadelphia Public and Private School League) swept the boys championships: Roman Catholic (Quad-A), Neumann-Goretti (AAA), Conwell-Egan (AA) and Constitution (A).

Make of that what you will, but it is certainly a reminder that Philadelphia has the strongest boys basketball in the state. I fully expect a meltdown on Twitter from people in Western Pennsylvania regarding the dominance of private schools in PIAA basketball.

Valid points can be made on the perceived “competitive advantage.” I’m hoping to have more on that topic soon.

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