Jen Meyer steps down as head coach of Lady Tigers

By JON KLEINKNECHT

Inquirer Sports Editor

sports@galioninquirer.com

After guid­ing the Galion High School girls’ var­sity bas­ket­ball team to the most vic­to­ries in back-to-back sea­sons in two decades, Jen Meyer is step­ping down as head coach.

“I told the girls about two weeks ago when we turned in our equip­ment,” Meyer — who served as var­sity head coach for just two sea­sons — stated. “I didn’t want to tell them last night (Sun­day) at the ban­quet because that is about THEM and THEIR accom­plish­ments … not about me.”

Meyer lives an hour away in Mon­roeville where she is the Dean of Stu­dents for the school dis­trict of grades 7–12, as well as the coor­di­na­tor of spe­cial edu­ca­tion. She accepted those posi­tions last spring after hav­ing taught in the Galion City Schools. Newly mar­ried, the 1996 Belle­vue High School grad­u­ate posted an over­all record of 14–29 as head coach of the Lady Tigers, includ­ing an 8–14 mark in the recently com­pleted cam­paign. Those eight vic­to­ries are the most by a var­sity team in the pro­gram in 20 years. She served as junior var­sity coach for one sea­son prior to being named head coach in the spring of 2011.

“Being the var­sity coach in Galion was an honor,” Meyer said. “In my three years, I have enjoyed every minute spent on the floor with my teams and every minute dri­ving back and forth from Mon­roeville. I knew these girls had poten­tial and that made the late nights and long dri­ves worth every sec­ond. I am so proud of all of them and so happy to have coached them. I am going to miss all of them so much. They are a great group of girls and work hard every day. They learned the true mean­ing of team and that shined brightly this season.”

The sev­enth head coach of the Orange-and-Blue in 12 sea­sons, Meyer took over a pro­gram in which losses by 30 or more points were com­mon place for an era span­ning 20 win­ters. That was not the case this sea­son. Of the 14 defeats, six were by 10 points or less and none were by 30-plus.

There were some big wins, too. On Feb­ru­ary 2nd, the Orange-and-Blue scored a school record 88 points in a Sat­ur­day after­noon dis­man­tling of Lucas in Rich­land County. It was a record-setting per­for­mance in more ways than one. Senior Pey­ton Beachy erupted for 40 points, includ­ing 10 3-pointers — both pro­gram marks. As a team, the locals made 15 treys against the Lady Cubs. Beachy’s 10 and Galion’s 15 3-pointers rank fourth in the Ohio High School Ath­letic Asso­ci­a­tion record book.

The Lady Tigers also smashed Card­ing­ton 78–42 in late Decem­ber after thump­ing Mount Gilead 64–22 nine days earlier.

Meyer fondly recalls those games and men­tioned the begin­ning of what she hopes become per­ma­nent fix­tures in the program.

“We set forth many new tra­di­tions that I hope con­tinue for years to come. Senior Din­ner, hav­ing (grades) 7–12 play­ers at our ban­quet, Adrian Team Camp, dodge­ball prac­tices, team din­ners, team out­ings to scout or watch for­mer play­ers, Littles/Bigs, touch­ing the team quote before every game, hud­dles at the end of prac­tice, always end­ing with the word “TEAM” no mat­ter what. It has been a great ride … and I was so glad to be part of it,” she stated.

She con­cluded with, “For the next coach … I hope they real­ize that they are sit­ting on a gold mine of tal­ent that can only go up from here, and I can only hope they con­tinue the tra­di­tions we have set and con­tinue to make more as the years go on. Thank you, Lady Tigers. You will for­ever be in my heart.”

Posted by Jon Kleinknecht on Mar 11 2013. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.