CENTERBURG – John Marhefka was the natural choice to replace Sky Brusco as boys basketball coach at Centerburg. After all, he’s already in the building as an English teacher.
“I’ve known these boys since they came to my camp when they were in elementary school,” Marhefka said. “They’re a great group of young men. That makes it a little easier to make that choice to get back into the fold.”
Also, Marhefka helmed the Trojans once already. He compiled a 43-49 record over four seasons after replacing Jim Simpson in 2011.
Simpson was contacted, Centerburg Athletic Director Rich Porter said. But, in Marhefka, the Trojans are getting a long-term coach. He should be approved at the November school board meeting.
“I wanted to reach out to Coach Simpson because he’s a legend— he’s in the Hall of Fame,” Porter said. “In high school, it’s always great to have coaches who are in the building. With (Marhefka’s) knowledge and his experience, it just made sense. When I knew that I had to look, I knew that I didn’t want a one-and-done person.”
Brusco was 37-33 overall in three seasons with the Trojans, leading them to a share of the Knox Morrow Athletic Conference championship last year. He resigned at a school board meeting on Oct. 12, just 17 days before this season's first day of practice. It was not an easy decision. But he and his wife Nikki are trying to adopt, and the COVID-19 pandemic made an already difficult process even more challenging.
“I didn’t think it was fair to ask my players and coaches to be at every practice and game and I was probably going to have to miss some,” Brusco said. “At least once every week or two weeks, I was going to be missing practice and a couple of games. That wasn’t a good look for the school either.”
“Family comes first,” Porter said. “It wasn’t going to be fair to his wife if he chose basketball and it wasn’t going to be fair to kids on the basketball team if he chose his wife. It was mutual and in the best interest of both parties; it was the right move.”
Marhefka has been a voluntary assistant coach for the Kenyon College men’s basketball team since 2015. He has also coached at Geneva, Buckeye and Shaker Heights at the high school level and Slippery Rock University and Armstrong Atlantic State University at the collegiate level.
“I wanted to be a head coach again if the right situation presented itself,” Marhefka said. “I wasn’t looking for this one at all. I still teach there, so I teach freshman English and a senior section. So actually some of the boys in the program are younger brothers of players I coached the last time I was around, so (I have) some familiarity with them.”
How has Marhefka changed since his first stint at Centerburg?
“I’m a lot older now,” he quipped. “I don’t know that there’s a whole lot of difference other than (I) have a different perspective on things. I’m still going to be intense and fiery. I think the overall perspective and years of coaching— I’ve a lot from (Kenyon men’s basketball coach) Dan (Priest)."
