Twin Valley has basketball opening after boys coach takes Ephrata job
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The lure of returning to his basketball roots was too strong for Matt Herbener to resist.
Now Twin Valley needs a boys basketball coach after Herbener was hired as head coach at Ephrata, his alma mater, earlier this week.
Herbener coached the Raiders for two seasons; it was his first head coaching job.
“It’s always (been) something that in the back of my mind I knew would be an awesome thing to do,” Herbener, a 2013 Ephrata grad, told LancasterOnline.com’s Jason Guarente earlier this week. I’ve been part of the community and my parents have been part of the community for the longest time. It does feel like coming home.”
Twin Valley becomes the fifth Berks boys basketball program with a change at the top since the end of the season. Garrett Etzel left Wyomissing after one season to take over at his alma mater, Gov. Mifflin. Terry Sitler retired after 10 years coaching at Fleetwood. Mike Dooley left Conrad Weiser after one season due to personal reasons.
The Fleetwood and Wyomissing jobs are currently open.
Herbener, 29, stepped into a difficult situation at Twin Valley and saw little progress in terms of wins and losses.
The Raiders went 4-18 in his first season and 5-17 last season, when they won just one league game and finished last in Division II of the Berks Conference.
Herbener went with an all-underclassmen lineup, and all five starters return, including all-division pick Matt Knight, a junior; leading scorer Carter Schmidt, a sophomore; and junior Kooper Zdimal, who led the team with 33 3-pointers.
The Raiders haven’t qualified for the District 3 playoffs in 12 years and haven’t won a district playoff game since 1995.
They haven’t won a division title in 43 seasons. And they’ve never won a Berks Conference playoff game.
The Ephrata team Herbener inherits is on a rebound. It finished 12-10 and in third place in Section 2 of the Lancaster-Lebanon League this season. It was the Mountaineers’ second straight winning season. Just four years ago they went winless. Four starters return.
Herbener is an elementary school teacher in the Ephrata school district and a former assistant coach in the program. He was an assistant under Charlie Fisher, first at Ephrata, then at Manheim Central for seven seasons.
There were five new coaches in the Berks Conference last season, at Conrad Weiser, Exeter, Oley Valley, Reading High, and Wyomissing. Two have left.
Chad Walters, who took over at Oley just weeks before last season opened, confirmed that he is returning to coach the Lynx.
Two of the first-year coaches enjoyed success. Jeff VanGorder saw the Eagles win 19 games, including one in the opening round of the PIAA Tournament.
Francis Camara took the Red Knights all the way to the PIAA semifinals and finished with a 22-11 record.
