Hoop Notes: Coaching milestones ahead for Rick Perez, Matt Coldren, Snip Esterly
Wilson’s Matt Coldren, Reading High’s Rick Perez and Berks Catholic’s Snip Esterly are each on the verge of a coaching milestone.
With his next win Coldren will tie Reggie Weiss’s record for most coaching victories with the Bulldogs. Coldren, in his 21st season, is 361-170. Weiss won 362 games over 21 seasons (spread over three stints). Wilson next plays Thursday against Muhlenberg.
Perez will tie Jim Gano’s Reading High record for most games coached when he takes the floor Thursday at Gov. Mifflin. Perez has coached 300 games in 11 seasons. Gano coached 301 games over his 10 seasons, from 1971-81.
Esterly, with 752 victories, has moved up to No. 9 on Pennsylvania’s all-time wins list. He needs three more to pass Speedy Morris and move into eighth place. Morris had 754 victories as a boys basketball coach.
| Reading High’s | winningest coaches | ||
| Years | Seasons | Record | |
| Jim Gano | 1971-81 | 10 | 251-50 |
| Rick Perez | 2011-22 | 11 | 230-70 |
| John Dietrich | 1926-38 | 12 | 185-72 |
| Sky Henry | 1906-14, 1919-23 | 12 | 163-78 |
| Richard Reyes | 2001-08 | 7 | 160-51 |
| Mike Miller | 1988-94 | 6 | 145-31 |
| Pete Carril | 1958-66 | 8 | 145-42 |
Perez figures to eventually pass Gano as the winningest coach in program history; that could potentially happen this season. Gano won 251 times; Perez has 230 wins.
Getting another 21 wins this season is not out of the question. The Red Knights have 14 more regular season games scheduled. If they reach the Berks Conference finals and the District 3 finals, that’s another seven games. They could play as many as five games in the state tournament. That could give them another 26 games.
Coldren ranks No. 6 all-time in Berks in victories, trailing only Esterly, Lloyd Wolf, John Silan, Weiss and Dick Sherry.
Only eight others have coached more seasons than Coldren; Wolf has the Berks record at 40, all at Holy Name.
Winning at the wire
Exeter pulled off an amazing comeback Monday, rallying from 21 points down in the second quarter to beat Wilson 48-47. Teddy Snyder’s 3-pointer — his fourth of the game — in the final seconds was the difference-maker. It was one of 11 3’s by the Eagles, eight in the second half.
“To be able to win a division game like that, against a rival opponent, against a good team, I think it does wonders for a team’s confidence,” Exeter coach Matt Ashcroft said on the Mike Drago Sports Podcast. “Hopefully that spurs us.”
The Eagles improved to 7-3 and are No. 6 in the District 3 Class 5A power ratings.
Exeter has plenty of offensive firepower: Colin Payne is averaging 19.7 points, second-highest in the Berks Conference, and the Eagles are averaging nearly six 3’s per game, among the top teams in the league.
Defense was the key to the comeback against Wilson: Exeter allowed just five field goals and 14 points in the second half.
“We said back in the summer we want to be winning games in the 40’s and 50’s,” Ashcroft said. “That’s where we’re most comfortable. That’s where we want to live, and we’ve had success doing that.”
Exeter has allowed more than 52 points just twice in 10 games.
The win was pivotal for the Eagles, who hadn’t beaten the Bulldogs since Stevie Mitchell’s freshman season, 2017-18.
Muhls/Bulldogs match-up looking a little different
Wilson and Muhlenberg meet Thursday in West Lawn for the first time since the Bulldogs edged the Muhls 56-51 in a Berks Conference semifinal last year on the way to the championship.
A lot has changed for both teams since.
The Bulldogs, now without Stevie Mitchell, have dropped their first three Berks I games. They were 29-3 in league play the last three seasons.
The Muhls are now coached by Matt Flowers, the former Reading High assistant who was an integral part in the Red Knights two PIAA championships.
They’re still playing great basketball. They’re off to a 6-1 start, winning by nearly 20 points per game and on the way to a second straight Berks II title.
Wilson has dominated the series, winning 22 of the last 23 since the 2008-09 season; Muhlenberg’s only win came in 2018-19, a 70-56 victory in which Mikai Washington scored 30 for the Muhls.
Mitchell set program records with 41 points and 18 free throws last season in a 56-51 win at Laureldale.
Family reunion
Matt Ashcroft gets another crack at his mentor, Snip Esterly, when Exeter plays Berks Catholic Thursday in a Berks I game in Reiffton.
Ashcroft played for Esterly for four years at Central Catholic, winning a PIAA Class A championship in 2007, and was on Esterly’s Berks Catholic coaching staff for four seasons prior to taking the Exeter job in 2019.
Teacher and student faced each other three times last season, with Berks Catholic winning twice.
Ashcroft says most of what he knows about basketball and passes on to his Exeter players comes from his years with Esterly.
“I spent four of the greatest years of my life with him as a player, and then four really amazing years with him as a coach,” Ashcroft said.
“There’s something to be said for the way he teaches the game,” Ashcroft said. “He preaches simplicity: Defense, ball movement, fundamentals, make the simple play. He always says: ‘Basketball’s a simple game; it’s humans that make it more complicated,’ and that couldn’t be more true.”
The game will also serve as a reunion for Matt Naugle, an Exeter assistant who was the leading scorer on Central Catholic’s 2007 championship team.
Tournament take
Cedar Cliff has moved up to No. 1 in the District 3 Class 6A power rankings after Reading High’s loss last week to Devon Prep. The Red Knights are right behind at No. 2.
Cedar Cliff, coached by former Tulpehocken coach Tigh Savercool, is the last remaining unbeaten Class 6A team in the district. Hempfield lost to Elizabethtown Tuesday after opening with eight straight wins.
Berks Catholic, even after its first loss, to Reading High, remains No. 1 in Class 4A; Antietam remains No. 1 in Class 2A.