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The Dean of the
CCC
By Dale Barger
http://crosscountyconference.com/
Tony Augspurger is “The Dean of the CCC” in boys’ high school
basketball!
Coach Tony Augspurger was recently honored for surpassing 400 career
wins as a High School Boys Varsity Basketball Coach. What makes
this achievement even more impressive is that he has achieved over 400
wins at the same school, Twin Valley South.
Longevity and long-term commitment to one employer or school is
something you don’t often see today and is a testament to Tony’s
character and dedication to his community and school.
To understand just how he elevated to such a lofty level we need to go
all the way back to his roots.
THE BEGINNING…
Tony is the son of a basketball coach. His dad (Dave) was a year older
than Jerry Lucas at Middletown. He loved basketball, but wasn't quite
good enough to play for the best high school program in the country at
the time and got cut as a junior. He went to Ohio State and got a
varsity coaching job right out of college at age 22...a different era.
He coached for 15 years and had two teams get to Columbus.
When Tony was going into the 8th grade his father got out of coaching
for a multitude of reasons. He and his brother Tosh ended up
playing for one of the legendary high school coaches in Ohio High
School history, Bob Haas at Willard.
For 22 years, Coach Haas served at Willard High School, where his teams
won 441 and lost only 74 … for his career he had a total of 522 wins
and 114 losses - a phenomenal 82.1% success rate - and made Final Four
appearances at the OHSAA State Tournament in 1980, 1982 and 1984.
His teams during the 1980, 1981 and 1982 seasons set the record for
consecutive (69) regular season victories in Ohio High School Boys
Basketball history.
Tony Augspurger shooting Old School "J" against Portsmouth in State
Semi Finals at St. John's Arena
Tony, who scored more than 1,000 points in his career at Willard, and
his brother Tosh were key contributors and at least one of them started
for 60 of the record 69 wins. To this day Tony is proud of being a part
of history and was quick to give a shout out to Franklin Monroe who
beat Tri-Village two years ago in the regular season to keep their 69
consecutive win streak intact.
Another great local coach John Willoughby from Houston High School was
a teammate with Tony on the 1980 team that went to the final four.
In his senior year Tony averaged over 21.5 points a game on a team that
went 25-1. They lost a heartbreaking game in the Regionals 45-43
to Napoleon, and they would easily go on to win the Class AA State
Title that year.
After his brother (a year younger than Tony) graduated, his Dad went
back into coaching for two years at Monroeville and won the state title
in 1984 before retiring.
Tony’s mom (Linda) was a high school English teacher and a very
enthusiastic coach's wife and player's mom.
It’s obvious with the influence of his parents that he would gravitate
to education and coaching.
COLLEGE DAYS…
Tony would go on to Akron as a freshman and just didn't get how college
athletics worked and ended up transferring to a JUCO in Arizona,
partially because it was exotic...in Arizona.
“It was a great experience to help me grow up from a kid to a man, but
dumb from a basketball perspective. If I'd have had a little more
patience I think my career at Akron would have taken off.” Tony said.
He was recruited from JUCO to play for a young Bob Huggins at Walsh.
“I loved Hugs and was fired up to play for him,” Tony explained.
“However, he ended up leaving us in November to take an assistant's job
at Central Florida for a year and then ironically ended up at Akron my
senior year coaching the guys I started out with, I felt cheated. You
can’t live by “What If”, I always wondered if I’d have understood
things a little better and stuck it out at Akron until Hugs got there
how it might have been…but I had a good experience at Walsh playing on
two nationally ranked NAIA teams for Dan Peters who was a good young
coach.”
Still, it all worked out for Tony as he learned some valuable life
lessons he would ultimately be able to pass on to kids as a basketball
coach.
“Both Hugs and Coach Pete definitely believed in hard work and
competition...things that are a cornerstone for how I have always tried
to do things.” Tony stated.
A LEGENDARY COACHING CAREER BEGINS…
Tony taught and coached at North Ridgeville High School in suburban
Cleveland in his first two years out of college.
He then applied for, and got the Twin Valley South job at age 24 in the
summer of 1987 and became the Panthers’ coach in the 1987-88 school
year.
“I was blessed and cursed, in that you could make a strong argument
that the best combination of size and talent I ever had as a coach at
Twin Valley South was my first team. I think I did well by them in
terms of what I brought to the table, however, I would love to have had
this group when I had ten, twenty even thirty years of experience,”
Tony chuckled.
Tony met his wife Dayna in his first year at Twin Valley South. He was
living in Oxford, and she was a senior at Miami and they met the
Wednesday night before she graduated.
They got married in 1991 and have three kids; daughter Olivia, who is a
junior at Miami, son Anthony, who is a freshman playing football at
Walsh University, and son Andrew, who is a junior at TV South.
“We have shared TVS together as a family. Something that I have loved
probably more than the kids … but something I wouldn't change for
anything,” Tony Augspurger said.
To have a long tenure you need to have community and administrative
support and Tony has had that.
“I have had great administrative support for the most part,” he said.
“My first administrators, Paul Erslan as first principal and the
Superintendent, Mike Miller the AD for my first fifteen years or so,
and Kent McIntire was our principal for around ten of my early years …
they were just awesome. They were first class, hard working,
supportive, tough, but fair and did a lot to teach me how to do things
professionally the right way. I was blessed also with Dan Bassler as my
second AD, and with our current principal Scott Cottingim, and my
assistant AD Glen Mabry. We've had a ton of support administratively
and I believe our high school staff has always been very good. It's
been a place where I've always wanted to come to work.”
When it comes to working with and coaching kids, Tony has this
philosophy:
“I believe you must work hard every day of your life in whatever it is
you try to do,” he explained. “As a parent, as a husband, in whatever
profession you are in. We practice that way. I believe that you must
care more about your team more than yourself. We try to teach that. I
believe we win and lose as a team and we do it with pride and hard work
and class. High school basketball is a game for the kids; it's my job
to help them be the best they can be. It's not for my glory. It's for
their lives and their memories.”
Keeping the primary focus on using basketball as a method to help kids
grow as people has made it easier to establish a brand of basketball
that has become the staple of the program in Augspurger’s tenure.
“I believe in being positive and trying to lift kids up to their
potential and to use the skills that they work at. We try to do that,”
he continued. “Finally, I believe if you want to be good at sports you
better take pride in how you defend and you have to be tough. We try to
teach that here.”
It’s something he’s learned from some of the great coaches he played
for in the past. Tony loves to win as much as anybody … but he isn’t
willing to do that at the expense of the kids he coaches.
“We've never achieved the wins and all-around success I hoped and
believed we could,” Tony stated. “There are a multitude of reasons for
that, some of which are my own limitations and my own stubbornness. I'm
NOT going to tell kids not to take an open shot. I'm not going to
humiliate them and have a quick trigger pulling kids for honest
mistakes. In the long run, these things have maybe hurt my teams in
regards to some wins and losses.”
Instead, building confidence in kids who put forth the effort has been
Coach Augspurger remedy for success.
“I’m going to say to that kid, we practice that shot every day, shoot
it with confidence and say to his teammates, get your butts on the
boards when you see we have an open shot. I'm going to try and find
some minutes for my kids who are coming in and working hard on a daily
basis. My way has only been moderately successful from an
accomplishment standpoint. However, I believe that my kids have always
known I care about them, I’m honest with them, that’s part of teaching,
and I want what is best for our teams. They also know if they aren’t
going to play hard, they weren't going to play much and come practice
time, we were all going to be running.”
Obviously, Tony’s way has worked … the kids who have played for him,
love and respect him. He has also earned the respect from Coaches
around the league.
A PERSPECTIVE FROM THE OPPOSITE BENCH…
Here is what coaches from around the league had to say on preparing for
a Twin Valley South game:
“Coach Augs teams at TVS are, and continue to be very well coached and
athletic. They have always been very quick, skilled and normally
he has very solid perimeter players that can break down a team off the
dribble. His teams are unselfish and share the ball very
well. For years it seemed like they always had shooters who
complimented good post players. His teams have always definitely
played to his personality which is a carefree attitude and highly
competitive.” – Covington Coach Roger Craft
“It is very difficult to prepare for Tony's teams because they are so
fundamentally sound. Even in years that they might not have a lot
of size, they still defend extremely well, so that makes it difficult
to gain an edge. Offensively, they rarely make many mistakes and
can "play off of your pressure" to their advantage, so you are often
left with just trying (or hoping) to keep them from making shots. Out
of respect and also from over the years of trying to stop one part of
their offense in particular, we actually have an adjustment we make to
our zone we call "South" defense. We use that adjustment in our
defense against TV South, but also any other opponent that matches that
particular TV South set. – Miami East Coach Allen Mack
"I always had great respect for Tony's teams. When you prepared
for them, you knew they would be well coached and would do things that
would put them in the best position to win. I have seen him hold
the ball to keep tempo down and win a low scoring game and then I have
seen his team push the ball up the floor and shoot a lot of
three's. Always his teams would play hard. TVS is a tough
place to play and the reason for that is Tony." - Covington &
Bethel Coach Steve Fisher
"Defensively, Tony is very good at trying to take away what you want to
do as a coach. Offensively, Tony gives his kids freedom. That is
scary when preparing for TVS." – Tri-Village Coach Josh Sagester
Coach Sagester also has a unique perspective on what it’s like as a
player to play against Tony as well.
“As a player, you knew his kids were going to play hard and defensively
he was going to do something to make it difficult for you to
score. I believe to this day, he has what he calls the "Josh
Sagester" rule because of what he tried to do to me as a player,”
Sagester said with a hearty laugh.
Fellow Coaches attest to Tony being open to talk basketball, but they
also allude to his competitiveness as well:
“Tony is very approachable and often freely shares helpful comments; he
seems to understand well the bigger picture of sports in addition to
being highly successful, in terms of 400 wins. I value his
perspective and experience. He amazes me with his ability to
teach man-to-man defense, which seems to have more variables than zone
defense that I am more accustomed to using.” – Allen Mack, Miami East
High School
“As a coach, we have formed a pretty-close bond over the years both
personally and professionally. We do not like to play one another
and breathe a sigh of relief when it's over due to our
competitiveness. We enjoy communicating and discussing not only
our teams but other teams as well. It's nice to have someone like
him who's had experience and success to bounce things off of. His
longevity is not something you see anymore, the notion of coaching for
that many years is not common especially at the same place”. - Josh
Sagester, Tri-Village High School
COACH AUGSPURGER ON THE CCC…
When it comes to competing in the CCC Tony has a unique perspective
with 29 years of being the fellow statesman in the conference.
“We've had some really good coaches in our league … but I don't think
we've ever been as good as it is right now,” he said. “From the old
school days...Richard Cline really did some good things at Franklin
Monroe, Lee Falknor was a very clever, crafty coach for Tri-Village
(246 Wins - 1991 Division IV State Runner-Up), Steve Fisher at both
Covington and Bethel (250 Wins - 2001 Division IV State Champs), Bill
Merz at Ansonia in the early 90s, and Roger Craft (181 Wins) at
Covington to name a few.”
“I've stolen something from all of them at one point in time or
another. Good coaches are all thieves. We will always run with an idea
or a play or a concept that we like and respect.”
“The CCC is loaded with some really good coaches and at the top of the
spectrum, well, you just can't argue with the success of the programs
that Josh Sagester at Tri Village (215 Wins - 2015 Division IV State
Champs) and Allen Mack at Miami East (375 Wins - 1996 Division III
State Champs) have established. They are as good as it gets in small
public high school basketball.
“I think Marcus Bixler at Arcanum prepares his players for individual
games better than anyone I've ever coached against, and Chad Cramer is
right there with him. It's an honor to try and compete against guys
like that.
“I could definitely go on … but those four pop into my mind.
I certainly am always willing and interested to sit and talk philosophy
or X and O’s with anyone. I guess I'm into friendly competition and for
the most part liked the guys I've coached against, and enjoy talking to
them.”
But Tony is quick to point out - “I'm extremely competitive and you
better believe I'm going to try like heck to help my guys figure out a
way to beat you.”
MEMORABLE WINS…
When you are a competitive coach you work hard, spend countless hours
preparing, and once the game is over you have to do it all over again …
and for the good ones the wins are nice but the losses are harder and
for Tony they stick in his memory more than any win because he plays
them over and over, wondering what he could have done differently to
get the win.
“I would say the thing about being a coach is I remember the bitter
defeats better than the good wins in a lot of ways. It's always easier
to look back on the disappointments, the mistakes I feel I've made, the
times we knocked on the door and didn't quite get it done,” Tony said.
When pressed, Tony mentioned the following wins as some of the more
memorable ones in his career:
• "We had some years where we had a lot of fun.
We won the league title on the road at Ansonia for the first time in
'94.”
• “Obviously winning the District in '94 against
Mariemont (it was the first time getting there) was big.”
• “Upsetting Jefferson and Ansonia back to back to
win the Sectional title in '95 was great.”
• “We won the CCC title at Mississinawa in '96 and
played almost a perfect game against Brookville that same year.”
• “We won a great OT game against a real good Eaton
team at home in '98.”
• “We also won a great OT game vs. Miami East in 2000
to win the Sectional title. (One that still pains Allen Mack to this
day)”
• “Against Covington in 02 we beat them at there
place it was one of our better regular season wins.”
• “Beating Carlisle in '06 in the Sectional Final and
getting to play OJ Mayo was special.”
• “Our '08 team had a few great games especially
beating Versailles in the tournament opener.”
• “It's so hard to single out wins. Unfortunately, I
could easily come up with many more disappointments, regrets, or
decisions that I still kick myself over.”
On the flip side, fellow coaches recount their most memorable games
with South… and some were painful.
“TVS and Covington has had some great contests over the years and
perhaps the 06-07 Covington at TVS game which was hotly contested by
both teams who were fighting for a chance at a league title late in the
season stands out. The Panther's came out on fire and led early
in the game 20-4 and Gene Studebaker got hurt early in the second
quarter and did not play the rest of the game. Our team fought through
the adversity and prevailed at TVS, which would be one of Covington’s
best head-to-head wins in a very tough environment. Normally as coaches
we only remember the losses and with TVS there were more than a few as
Coach “A” teams were consistently good.” – Roger Craft, Covington High
School
“I’ve had some memorable moments against “T” both as a player and as a
coach. As a player, I attended many open gyms in TVS land and had
some heated battles against him and some of his former players in the
summer and during the season. The same can be said as a coach;
certainly last year's win against him in the closing seconds was
memorable with Linkous' finish as he took the pass from Van Winkle for
37-36 victory.” – Josh Sagester, Tri-Village High School
"The one game I remember is when I was coaching at Covington. We
were very mediocre and TVS came into Covington undefeated. They
made a bunch of threes, probably in the teens, but we said we would put
up with the made threes and take away the inside. We ended up
beating them by just a couple. I think they ended 19-1.
Also, when I was at Bethel, we went over to TVS and played them.
We were very good that year and Tony's team played us in a match up
zone. We ended up running a man-to-man set play the whole second half
to beat them. One thing that you had to do was prepare your team
very well when you faced Tony and TVS." - Steve Fisher, Covington &
Bethel High School
“Coaches remember all losses, especially the ones where they are so
close that they could go either way. One in particular that
stands out, maybe one of the toughest postseason losses we have ever
had, was our game with TV South in the 2000 D3 Sectional Finals.
This was before Miami East joined the CCC. We were up by 5 in the last
minute of regulation. We were in the 1-3-1 trap that had helped
us get the lead, but unfortunately we stayed in it one possession too
long. We fouled just inside of half court and Tony's player made
both ends of a 1-1. We came down and missed a good, but contested shot,
close to the basket. Now only up 3, we had to defend the 3-point
arc and got too close. Tony's player made all 3 FT's after we
fouled him. Somehow, TV South had managed to shoot and make 5
free throws in the last minute and we went 0-1 from the field in a game
that we led by 5. From a coaching perspective, those roles should
have been reversed with us leading but that was a credit to Tony.
The game went to double overtime and TV South advanced with the
sectional title. The next year, with nearly the same team, we advanced
all the way to the state championship to finish as 2001 state runner-up
to LeBron James' team, Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary's. I think
rarely a day passed by that offseason in 2000 that I didn't think about
that game and what our players and I could have done differently.
I think some of that success and focus we had the next year, 2000-01,
came from the adversity we faced against Tony and his team in that 2000
sectional final game.” – Allen Mack, Miami East High School
“THE DEAN OF THE CCC”…
Coach Augspurger influence in the game of basketball is widespread, but
he credits his dad and his high school as the impetus to his coaching
career.
“My dad and my high school coach were both in almost every way better
coaches than I could hope to be. Dad's work ethic and enthusiasm
to learn the game and teach the game are unparalleled. His passion was
off the charts. Coach Haas was a great teacher and a great molder of
young men at Willard, we always did things the right way. There is no
doubt that the two of them were by far my biggest influences and the
intangibles I learned from them have helped me to be the kind of
teacher and coach that would hopefully make them proud.”
Tony may be his own worst critic … coaches usually are, but his peers
think otherwise.
"Tony has always been very good to me. I remember his dad
coaching a team at the state one-year and I seen Tony in some of his
dad's traits. To be at one school for that long shows how the
community must respect him also." - Steve Fisher, Covington &
Bethel High School
“Tony - Is a great coach … but an even a better person! A cliché,
but true in this case!” – Allen Mack, Miami East High School
“The CCC has been lucky to have someone of his caliber remain a
constant within our league where turnover is prevalent; he is one of
the best.” – Josh Sagester, Tri-Village High School
“Coach “A” is indeed the Dean of the CCC no question about that.
He has always represented the conference and the TVS community in
positive manner. His teams are well prepared and opponents know
they are in for a tough contest when playing them. The friendship
we have developed through coaching means the world to me, as Coach A
has always been a true gentleman on and off the court. Bottom line -
Coach
“A” is GREAT for KIDS!” – Roger Craft, Covington High School
Speaking of the kids that is really what coaching is all about for Tony.
“If you talk for one minute about 400 wins, you need to talk about good
kids. You need to talk about kids who have tried to do things the right
way.” - Roy Williams, North Carolina Basketball Coach
“That's a great quote, without a doubt the biggest reason I have
continued to do this,” said Tony. “It’s because I love working with the
guys and all those who have played for me. Some years are harder than
others, some groups get it better than others, but all of our kids have
redeeming values and all of our kids want an opportunity to learn, want
an opportunity to succeed.”
Through it all, Augspurger has remained loyal to the community who gave
him an opportunity nearly 30 years ago.
“I never really looked to leave Twin Valley South since I’ve got here,”
he said. “I’ve never applied for another coaching or teaching job. I
like the kids in our community and I have always wanted to lead them to
success. The fact that we have been in it together, and I have had so
many of them, I have great memories, most of my most active friendships
are with ex-players, and I love to see them as adults and see what
their potential as young men have grown into. With some it was just
easy, and it's great when you have those kids who completely buy into
how you are trying to teach them and are sponges like with trying to do
things the right way, obviously I loved them, but I also love the kids
that were a struggle … but then the light clicks on.”
And Augspurger passes his experiences on to young coaches in the system.
“In talking to Tyler Cates, our football coach, as old coach to young
coach, one of the things I tell him, you can't let one year affect the
next,” Tony said. “It doesn't always happen, but I've had so much
success with kids, especially seniors, who just didn't get it or who I
didn't click with and they came in the next year with a slightly
different attitude and I ended up loving to coach them. That's always
gratifying. A couple of my ex-players who I'm closest with, I would
have never guessed that would be the case based on where they were as
an underclassman.”
Augspurger’s own experiences have allowed him to keep the game in
perspective.
“In my mind, basketball was too important in my family growing up. I've
wanted it to not be that important for me as a coach and as a parent.
It's a great game, but it's not life or death. As I say that though, it
was a lot of fun to be 51-2 at Willard, to play in St. John's Arena, to
be first team All State and never have to pay a dime for college. So,
while I think it was perhaps too important … I sure reaped some
benefits,” Augspurger recalled.
“I very much love the game. I loved playing it. I kept playing on a
high competition level into my early forties. I love the way it's a
combination mano e mano … then it's a great us verses them game. I love
that offense is poetry. That you can break a guy's ankles with a
crossover … how good it feels to have your “J” in the zone where you
know it's going in, or how fun it is to throw the pass that you see,
but nobody else does until you've thrown it and people watching are
like whoa! … I love equally, that “D” is about being tough and nasty
and saying, NO you can't score on me; on us it's a great game. I try to
help my kids see that every day. I like it best when it's all said and
done that they not only enjoyed being a TVS basketball player, but that
they also are like, you know, I still want to play.”
It’s easy to see that Tony’s passion for the game is still solid and
intact.
“Coaching is the closest you can come if you are a competitive sports
minded person to actually playing. I still look forward to
working with my guys. I like to believe that my players are still
getting a coach who comes to practice every day and practices what he
preaches to them. We are going to work hard, we are going to take pride
in what we do, we are going to care of each other and we are going to
compete to the best of our ability, starting with the old guy that's
doing most of the talking...as long as I do that, it will be hard for
me to walk away.”
“I still love to compete and I believe in what I'm doing working with
young people,” he concluded.
So “The Dean Of The CCC” marches on.
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