Kratzenberg named head coach at New Boston Glenwood

A coaching change can be among several things in life that are difficult to accept.

However, it’s easier to absorb when the coach in question is an individual that understands the local area and wants to take the job as seriously as it warrants.

Chase Kratzenberg, who was the athletic director at South Point for five years and served in various roles as a head football coach and assistant track and field coach at South Point as well as an assistant boys basketball coach at Ironton, will take the reins of the New Boston Glenwood boys basketball program in a hire that was made official at a New Boston Local Schools Board Meeting on Tuesday, May 12. It will be Kratzenberg’s first head coaching opportunity in the sport of boys basketball.

“It means the world to me that the administration at New Boston Glenwood — the kids, the teachers, the community — have put their faith in me to lead their basketball program,” Kratzenberg said. “I know that basketball runs deep in the community of New Boston, and it means a lot to me that they are putting faith in me, so I’m honored and humbled to have this opportunity. I’m not taking this lightly and I’m looking forward to the growth of not only the kids that are in the program, but the program itself and the athletic department as a whole. I just want to dive into the community and really try to grow the brand of New Boston.”

Kratzenberg, who is a 2009 graduate of South Point, earned his bachelor’s degree in secondary education in 2014 from Marshall and followed that up by obtaining a master’s degree in athletic administration at Ohio in 2020.

In addition to the eight years of teaching experience that Kratzenberg sports in the classroom, he has over a decade’s worth of coaching experience between three different sports — football, boys basketball and track and field.

While the New Boston Glenwood boys basketball opportunity will be Kratzenberg’s first head coaching gig in the sport, it is not his first spot as the head man of the program as a whole.

Kratzenberg was the head coach for the final five games of the 2016 season as well as the entire 2017 season inside the South Point football program, and coached as an assistant boys basketball coach at Ironton under both Mark LaFon and P.J. Fitch, the latter of whom is now presently at New Boston Local Schools as its superintendent.

Outside of his experiences at South Point and Ironton, Kratzenberg has also worked with the Ohio Force travel basketball program, which is based out of Ironton and works with kids from all across the Tri-State Area in Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia. His sons, Tyus and Talen, are a part of that program.

“It’s been a joy coaching them and trying to grow the brand of basketball in our area,” Kratzenberg said. “We’re taking a lot of kids from Lawrence and Scioto County and just trying to make them better basketball players.”

In terms of the coaching staff that Krazenberg will put together at New Boston Glenwood, he says that it will be a matter of who fits his vision.

“My process is going to be to take it slow,” Kratzenberg said. “I want to touch base with some representatives from New Boston and some former coaches, some people that are in the school district now that have a relationship with these kids, and that also have a history and some sort of coaching credentials in their background. I’m going to talk with some guys that I trust personally in the Lawrence and Scioto County area, and I’m also going to talk with and touch base with people in the New Boston community to see who is the best fit, who I can trust, and who has the vision that I’m looking for to coaching alongside me.”

Previous head coach Adam Cox laid a strong foundation for success, particularly during his first four seasons from the 2017-18 to 2020-21 campaigns that was among the best stretch of basketball in program history. New Boston Glenwood went to the OHSAA Division IV District Semifinals in the 2017-18 and 2019-20 seasons, advanced to the OHSAA Division IV, Region 15 Championship Game in 2018-19, and won the OHSAA Division IV, Region 15 Championship and advanced to the OHSAA State Final Four during the 2020-21 campaign.

New Boston won at least 20 games in three of those four seasons.

Behind Fitch’s support, Kratzenberg believes a similar type of success is around the corner for the program.

“My vision matches P.J.’s vision,” Kratzenberg said. “What he wants is the same thing that I would want, as well. Our priorities lie in that area of building that foundation so that we have that sustained success, and I’m eager to get involved with the kids that share that vision as well. It’s comforting to know that the administration that not only reached out to me, but hired me for this position, share the same ideas and values that I do about the game of basketball. I believe that those ideas and values will culminate in some level of success, and I believe that the New Boston community will be proud of that effort.”

But beyond the main goal on the court — which is to win what is now a OHSAA Division VII State Championship with the expansion in classes — Kratzenberg says that molding young lives off of the floor will be key.

“Ultimately, we want to bring a state championship to New Boston,” Kratzenberg said. “But I also want our community and our kids to know that it’s not just about the win-loss record. Of course, we want to win more games than we lose. Winning means a lot to me. I want winning to matter to our kids, and I know that winning matters to the community. However, I don’t want them to think that our kids can’t or won’t be successful if we don’t bring home a conference championship or we don’t bring home a district championship. Ultimately, we want our kids to graduate, we want our kids to learn on the court, and we want our kids to be really successful once they graduate high school. I hope that we’re not only able to win conference, district, regional and state championships at New Boston, but at the same time, I want our kids to graduate high school knowing that they learned something from me, our staff, our administration and our school inside those four lines that they can take into their lives in order to become better people as well.”