New year will bring major basketball milestones for two of Berks’ top coaches
The new year will see some major milestones for two of the most successful coaches in Berks basketball history.
Wilson’s Matt Coldren enters the week one win shy of reaching 400. Berks Catholic’s Snip Esterly needs two more victories to reach 800. Each could come on the same night.
Wilson plays at Reading High Thursday. A Bulldogs win will make Coldren just the fifth boys basketball coach in Berks history to reach 400.
Berks Catholic plays at Pottsville (6-4) Tuesday and at Daniel Boone (3-6) Thursday. The Saints are 6-0, ranked No. 1 in the District 3 Class 4A power ratings and will enter each game as the favorite.
Esterly, in his 35th season as a head coach, ranks No. 7 all-time in Pennsylvania history with 798 victories.
Later this month he should move into sixth place, passing the retired Don Graham (801 wins) of North Catholic.
Esterly won 542 games over 22 seasons at Central Catholic before moving to Berks Catholic, where he has won 256 games in 13 seasons.
Esterly’s resume includes a PIAA championship in 2007, four state title game appearances, 14 district titles and eight Berks Conference championships.
He has 196 postseason wins — that’s more wins than any other coach in the league has in the regular season, save for Coldren.
Esterly became Berks’ winningest coach during the 2013-14 season, when he passed the record of 626 held by Holy Name’s Lloyd Wolf.
Coldren ranks No. 6 on the all-time Berks wins list. Directly ahead of him is Reggie Weiss, whom Coldren played for at Wilson from 1988-90 when he set the program records for 3-pointers in a game (6), season (63) and career (103).
Coldren began his coaching career as an assistant for Weiss for six seasons, then moved up to head coach for the 2001-02 season, after Weiss retired.
Coldren topped Weiss’ program record for wins (362) during the 2021-22 season.
Wilson is off to an 8-2 start and ranked No. 4 in the District 3 Class 6A power rankings. Coldren had a chance to snag win No. 400 last week but saw the Bulldogs lose to host Hempfield in the championship game of the Black Knights’ holiday tournament.
Coincidentally, Esterly also began his coaching career as assistant for Weiss. Esterly was with Weiss for five seasons at Central was on staff for the Cardinals’ PIAA championship in 1985.
Berks’ winningest basketball coaches
| Coach | School(s) | Seasons | Record | Pct. |
| Snip Esterly | Central Cath./Berks Cath. | 35 | 798-217 | .786 |
| Lloyd Wolf | Holy Name | 40 | 626-381 | .621 |
| John Silan | Kutztown/Wilson | 26 | 527-117 | .818 |
| Reggie Weiss | Wilson/Central/Muhlenberg | 28 | 457-243 | .653 |
| Matt Coldren | Wilson | 23 | 399-189 | .678 |
| Dick Sherry | W. Reading/Wyomissing | 23 | 369-202 | .646 |
| Joe Schaaf | Central Catholic | 24 | 335-307 | .522 |
| Bob Millard | Brandywine/Muhlenberg | 27 | 323-202 | .615 |
| Rick Perez | Reading High | 12 | 281-74 | .791 |
| Ralph Leininger | Wilson | 19 | 272-166 | .621 |
| Bill Colunio | Hamburg | 16 | 271-134 | .669 |
| Scoop Clemens | Ontelaunee/Muhlenberg | 20 | 270-110 | .710 |
| Bob Kautter | Gov. Mifflin | 19 | 260-154 | .628 |
| Tony Casamassa | Conrad Weiser | 19 | 257-215 | .544 |
| Jim Gano | Reading High | 10 | 251-51 | .831 |
| John Shaner | West Reading | 27 | 251-213 | .541 |
| Mike Zuber | Mt. Penn/Gov. Mifflin | 17 | 245-158 | .608 |
| Chris Gallo | Schuylkill Valley | 15 | 203-167 | .549 |
