By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
Roddy Stainforth, an assistant coach with the Dixie Heights boys’ basketball team for 13 years, is now head coach of the Colonels.
Roddy Stainforth, left, is taking charge of the Dixie Heights boys’ basketball team after 13 seasons as an assistant for former head coach Ken Chevalier, right. (Photo by Chris Granger)
Stainforth, 36, was officially put in charge of the program on Tuesday. He hopes to build off the success of his mentor, Ken Chevalier, who retired as head coach a few weeks ago after compiling a 251-143 record in 13 years.
Stainforth was the first varsity assistant hired by Chevalier in 2004. They worked together to make Dixie Heights one of the top teams in Northern Kentucky. The Colonels have made it to the 9th Region tournament for 13 consecutive years, reached the semifinals six times and won the title in 2011 for the first time in 54 years.
“It’s really exciting,” Stainforth said of becoming head coach. “I’m a Dixie graduate and not everybody gets an opportunity to coach where they came from.”
After graduating from Dixie Heights in 1998, Stainforth coached junior high school basketball teams for several seasons before moving up to the high school level as Chevalier’s top assistant and junior varsity coach.
Stainforth said he enjoys teaching and coaching at his alma mater so much that he never considered applying for a head coaching position at another high school.
“Being a head coach wasn’t important to me, coaching at Dixie Heights was important to me,” he said. “I’m just fortunate that the opportunity to be a head coach here presented itself.”
The Colonels will be losing four varsity starters to graduation. Junior guard Tyler Schreck is the only starter returning from this year’s 26-7 team. But the junior varsity and freshman teams both made it to the finals in their respective regional tournaments this season.
“We’re not in a rebuilding mode. We’re in a preparation mode,” Stainforth said. “We’re going to prepare to be a solid, competitive team in the 9th Region. We’ve got kids in our program that are going to work hard and prepare and we expect to be competitive once again.”
Stainforth has been head coach of the Dixie Heights fast-pitch softball team for several years. He knows how to run a high school program and he learned what it takes to be an effective head coach from Chevalier.
“You’ve got to be up-front and honest, and you’ve got to believe in these kids,” Stainforth said. “Confidence goes a long way. When the coach believes in you and installs that confidence in you it takes your talent to another level.”
