5 Questions with Buckeye Valley HS Head Coach Andy Gast
Head Coach Andy Gast of Buckeye Valley High School is the perfect example of the “hard work pays off” throwback thought process of the “old school” mindset for the game of basketball and life in general. A young man who…
Access all of Prep Hoops
Continue reading this article and more.
Continue ReadingHead Coach Andy Gast of Buckeye Valley High School is the perfect example of the “hard work pays off” throwback thought process of the “old school” mindset for the game of basketball and life in general. A young man who wasn’t born especially fast or strong, yet with countless hours in the gym shooting and lifting, Andy became a star high school player and attained a college scholarship as well. From there the young man immediately started paying his dues in the coaching world by starting out in middle school ball. From there he moved around a little working his way up to his current position at BV. Let’s take a closer look at the head of this successful program:
#1. Full Coaching Resume:
a. 2002– Head 8th grade boys coach coach Olentangy Liberty MS
b. 2003-2005– Head JV boys coach at Olentangy HS
c. 2005-2008–Head Varsity Boys Coach at Olentangy Liberty High School
d. 2008-2013–Varsity Assistant Boys Coach at Buckeye Valley High School
e. 2013-Present (4th season) Head Varsity Boys Coach at Buckeye Valley High School
#2. Playing Career: I played my high school basketball at Marion Elgin High School and my college basketball at NAIA D2 Mt. Vernon Nazarene University from 1998-2002.
#3– Our team goals for this season are:
a. Win our 3rd consecutive MOAC League Title
b. Make a run in the tournament (District Title)
c. Be a better team to end the season than we were to start the season
#4. Coaching Style: I would say that my coaching style is very intense and active. I am actively demonstrating what I want done in practice. I run a very structured practice which focuses on a lot of drill work that helps our team build into our defensive and offensive philosophies. I would say that I have a great relationship with all of my players and know each individual personality of each kid which tremendously helps you coach them and get the most out of them.
#5. Year to Year Coaching Philosophies: We expect all of our kids who wear the Buckeye Valley Jersey to play hard and compete at all times; no matter what skill level we have from year to year. We focus each year on the concepts of hard, man to man defense and the fundamentals that go along with it; rebounding, helpside defense, etc. Offensively, we will base our system on the talents and skills of the players that we have each season. Example, we have more size this season, so we focus on getting the ball inside more. This could vary from year to year as to what we need to do offensively.