Coaches calmly win, I put the hype in hyperventilate

Feeds:: Posts; Comments

Coaches calmly win, I put the hype in hyperventilate

August 17, 2023 by David Svien

“Hey, none of you tell Brad he’s exactly 900 wins away from passing Ed Pepple as the state’s winningest high school boys’ basketball coach!!” (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

I probably care a lot more about the hype than they do.

Coupeville High School’s current coaches, while very competitive and always striving for wins on the playing field, don’t include any divas.

No matter the sport, they are focused on team success over personal accolades, and don’t seem to spend a lot of time tracking personal win/loss records or worrying about where they stand on the all-time ladder.

So, that’s where I come in.

With a lot of extra time on my hands, and an abiding interest in tracking stats of all kinds, I crunch the numbers — even if sometimes it’s just for my own entertainment.

As we head into the 2023-2024 school year, there are 11 active head coaches at CHS, with seven of them having recorded wins.

First-year girls’ soccer guru Kimberly Kisch is set to make her debut in the season opener, while Elizabeth Bitting (cross country/track), Jennifer Morrell (cheer), and Bob Martin (track) run programs which don’t collect conventional wins and losses.

At some point, we’ll pick up a 12th coach, once a replacement for Ken Stange is announced.

He retired this spring after two decades in charge of the Wolf tennis programs, leaving Coupeville AD Willie Smith with big shoes to fill.

So, as we head into 23-24, where do we stand? Whether you asked, or not, here we are:

Wins at CHS for active varsity head coaches:

Kevin McGranahan (Softball) — 97
Cory Whitmore (Volleyball) — 76
Brad Sherman (Boys Basketball) — 53
Megan Richter (Girls Basketball) — 19
Steve Hilborn (Baseball) — 17
Robert Wood (Boys Soccer) — 10
Bennett Richter (Football) — 7

In a side note, Richter (.777) edges Hilborn (.739) for best winning percentage, though, to be fair, each coach only has one season at the helm.

McGranahan, who has won at a .688 clip, enters his ninth season this spring — counting the Covid campaign of 2020.

The diamond kingpin tops all active Wolf coaches with 141 games, while Whitmore (112 games/.679 winning percentage) and Sherman (110 games) are the only other CHS leaders to crack triple digits.