Westerville South dreams big amid coaching changes

Coming off the most fruitful season in program history, Westerville South’s young, talented team was upbeat about offseason workouts.

But in May, the school and coach Silas Williams parted ways for unknown reasons. Soon after, Williams was hired to succeed retired legendary coach Dave Butcher at Pickerington North.

“I was heartbroken when coach Silas left. We were all heartbroken,” Wildcats senior point guard Sommer Pitzer said. “We had grown so attached to him and were looking forward to taking the next step together. But I guess everything happens for a reason.”

Roughly a month later, Tomeka BrownWhitehead, who played at Marion-Franklin and Ohio State and in Gabby Hutcherson of Westerville South blocks a shot by Gabby Stare of Newark during the Wildcats’ Division I regional semifinal upset in March. Hutcherson returns this season as a 6-foot-3 junior and is committed to Ohio State.

the WNBA, was hired as coach. But on Sept. 12 — citing personal reasons — BrownWhitehead stepped down, leaving the program in disarray.

Boys assistant Jermaine Guice, whose daughter Peyton is a senior guard, volunteered to oversee open gyms until a replacement

could be found — not an easy task because fall classes had begun.

Enter Erick Herzberg, who with some reluctance stepped down after one season at Lakewood to take the job of a lifetime. He was hired on Sept. 24.

“I was very happy at Lakewood, and I loved the community there, but this opportunity came out of the blue, and I just felt I had to do it,” said Herzberg, who teaches at Mifflin and was making a long commute to Licking County each day. “I would kick myself forever if I didn’t take on a challenge like this.”

The reason for such optimism: South returns nearly everyone from a 21-6 team that stunned once-beaten Dublin Coffman for its first Division I district title, then knocked off No. 1-ranked Newark in regional play before falling to eventual state champion Pickerington Central in the regional final.

Back are four Division I commits: 6-foot-3 junior center Gabby Hutcherson (Ohio State), 5-10 junior forward Anyssa Jones (Ohio State) and seniors Pitzer (Indiana State) and Guice (Ohio).

Herzberg, who was a boys assistant for 10 seasons before coaching girls teams at Linden and Lakewood, acknowledges never having coached this much talent.

“My best player at Lakewood went to Hiram, and we thought that was a pretty big deal,” he joked. “Because of all the high expectations, it’s a bit more stressful than I’m accustomed to, but I knew that coming in. You can’t back down from that kind of challenge.”

On late notice, Herzberg was able to cobble together an allnew coaching staff and four scrimmages.

Building the trust of his players is a work in progress.

Guice said, “The adjustment from one coach to another and then another was a big concern at first, but at the end of the day, it’s still basketball, and we still have the same goal as ever: to get to the state. It motivates us every day to walk into the gym and see that (district title) banner on the wall. We want to add more.”

The plan is for South to remain an up-tempo team, but Herzberg will install his own touches and philosophies.

“I’ve watched some film of last year, and I think we’ll maybe be a bit more structured in some aspects,” he said. “We’ll mix man and zone (defenses) and do some different sets. It’s such a complete team. We have bigs, littles, ball-handlers, shooters, defenders. We can mix and match kids to get any combination we want. That’s really appealing to me. And to top it all off, the basketball IQ of the girls is very high, and they’re very willing to bust their butts to achieve all their goals.”