Brian Wrobel saddened he won’t be there as Mustangs take next step toward contention
2024 Berks basketball coverage presented by
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Brian Wrobel could feel the momentum shifting for his young Gov. Mifflin basketball team at midseason, when it knocked off Hempfield, then scored a big Berks Conference Division I win over Muhlenberg.
The Mustangs finished the season with just eight wins and didn’t come close to a playoff spot but Wrobel feels certain the team is ready to make the jump to contender next season.
He’s disappointed he won’t be part of that ride.
The 33-year-old Wrobel is out as Mifflin coach after the position was opened by school administration last week.
“I’m proud of the work our staff has put in over the last couple years,” Wrobel said. “We were headed in the right direction. I am able to walk away with my head held high knowing my staff and I put in 100 percent trying to restart this program.”
The Mustangs improved by just one win in Wrobel’s second season but they were a much more competitive team in the second half of the season. After a 19-point home loss to Conrad Weiser dropped their record to 4-9 there was a team meeting. That meeting, and the subsequent win over Hempfield a few days later, turned the tide.
Mifflin went 4-5 down the stretch and was competitive in losses to Exeter, Reading High, Wilson, and Hershey, all playoff teams.
“There was point where the kids figured out the level of play they needed (against) our schedule,” Wrobel said.
“We were extremely competitive against some really good competition,” he said. “You beat Muhlenberg, you beat Hempfield, you’re hanging in there with Exeter, who’s going to the state playoffs, you’re beating Reading in the fourth quarter.
“You’re beating Hershey — who just lost the district final last night – in the fourth quarter.
“It was a fun ride down the stretch where a couple balls go left or right, and maybe it’s a difference.
“These guys know it. They’re ready to make that jump, for sure. And I know everybody else in the county knows it.”
Most of the team’s top players return, including all-division pick Matt Koehler, a junior; Andrew Galantuomo, who figures to be one of the league’s top point guards as a senior; and junior guard Stephen Mayo, who averaged nearly 10 points per game over the final seven games, five of them against District 3 playoff qualifiers.
“(With) the core coming back, whoever the next coach is is gonna have a fun time next year, for sure,” Wrobel said. “They’re ready to go; they want to get in the gym now. They’re competitive kids. I hope they find (a new coach) soon; I hope they get the ball rolling.”
Only one member of Wrobel’s staff has head coaching experience, Dave Argentati. He was Mifflin’s head coach from 1999-07, taking the Mustangs to four straight district playoff appearances and to a winning record five times in eight seasons.
Wrobel got the Mifflin job under the most difficult of circumstances. When former head coach Kyle Conrad succumbed to cancer less than two months before the start of the 2022-23 season Wrobel was elevated to the top spot.
Wrobel worked closely with Conrad as the Mustangs’ JV coach the previous four seasons.
Wrobel played at Antietam and began his coaching career there, as an assistant to John Rizzo. He later coached in Delaware before joining the Mifflin staff when Conrad was elevated from assistant to head coach for the 2018-19 season.
As usual, Mifflin will face severe competition next season in Berks I, and in its crossover games against the top teams in Berks II. Berks I champ Reading High and Berks Conference champ Wilson each have young teams, as does Muhlenberg. Berks II runner-up Exeter has a young core of players and will make another run at that division title, as well as the league title.
Mifflin will have at least six league games next season against teams coming off PIAA Tournament appearances.
