Published: June 30, 2008 10:39 pm            

HS BASKETBALL: NC hoops promotes from within

Niagara Catholic athletics director Larry Puzan didn’t have to look far for his new varsity boys basketball coach. In fact, he needed only to look down his own bench.

Puzan announced Monday that assistant coaches Eric Fields, Brian Hall and Bob Lewis have all been promoted to the position of head of basketball operations at NC. The trio had previously run the junior varsity program together and were summoned to run the entire program after Chuck Sprigg was dismissed late last season.

“It’s really an associate coaching staff that’s going to work together,” Puzan said Monday. “They’ve shown a lot of dedication to the school, program, community, kids and families over the last few years. After comparing them to the other candidates, we felt it was in our best interest to keep them on staff.”

In terms of coaching duties, Fields will be largely in charge of the varsity program, Lewis will lend his knowledge of the game between both the varsity and JV and Hall will be the JV head coach. Lewis has been the JV coach at NC for the past seven years, while Fields joined the staff five years ago and Hall came to NC three years ago.

“This is a very exciting time,” Fields said. “This is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time and I look forward to continuing to grow as a coach. With things staying mostly intact, I expect bigger and better things in the future at Niagara Catholic.”

That continuity, along with the familiarity that the trio — especially Lewis and Fields — have with the Cataract City also helped Puzan come to his decision.

“They’ve been a big reason a lot of kids have come here because they are out there promoting the school and showing families what Niagara Catholic has to offer,” he said.

Fields, who got his start in coaching at the Niagara Falls Resource Center, said it will be important that the school continues to draw student-athletes from the entire county. Fields added that a fourth coach may be brought in to assist the program and Puzan said one of the other candidates that interviewed for the varsity job is a possibility for that position.

Contact reporter Nate Beutel at 282-2311, ext. 2262.

        

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