Fairview hires new coach

The search for a new Fairview girls basketball coach is over. Pending board approval, the school has hired Dave Murphy to replace Andrea Petta, who stepped down in early April. Petta took the head girls basketball coaching job at Lutheran West, her alma mater, after coaching at Fairview for five seasons.

“I was very excited because I live in Rocky River, I’ve been here since 1986, and I always knew Fairview was a great little community,” Murphy said. “They’ve had some success in different sports at different times.”

Petta compiled a 48-70 record during her tenure as coach, and her teams won at least one tournament game in three of her five seasons at the helm. Petta’s best season came in 2018-19 when the Warriors went 17-7 during the regular season and made a sectional final appearance.

“Dave was at the top of my list just looking at his coaching background ,and this next year will be his 40th year coaching high school basketball,” Fairview athletic director Joe Dianetti said. “I talked to some people that I trust in the basketball community and heard a lot of good things about him. I was excited to get the chance to interview him, talk to him and then ultimately offer him the position.”

Murphy spent the last three years coaching girls basketball at Cleveland Central Catholic.

This past season, his team went 17-7 in the regular season and made a district championship appearance. As a result, Murphy was named the Division II Northeast Lakes District Coach of the Year.

“We had some great success at Central,” Murphy said. “I’ve never had any accolades like that before, so it was kind of nice to get those. When people recognize you that way, it’s a tribute to the program, the coaches and players, and it gives me a good feeling as well.”

Despite planning on returning to Cleveland Central Catholic prior to taking the Fairview job, Murphy

also had thoughts about moving on to the next stage of his coaching career.

“My assistant coach and I had accomplished the goals we set out to do (at Cleveland Central Catholic),” Murphy said. “We had seven seniors this year, and when they graduated, we looked at the rest of the program and thought that maybe it was time to move on and let someone else do this.”

After having success in years prior, the Warriors went 3-19 this past season. Murphy sees this next chapter in his coaching career as a new challenge and wants to build a winning culture at Fairview.

“We’ve got to start with fundamentals and start getting girls excited,” Murphy said. “(We also have to) make sure we don’t get any

girls that want to leave the program for any reason, and we want to make them feel good about being a part of Fairview basketball.

“Building relationships, staying positive, being motivational, communicating with the girls and doing some things off of the court, not just on, (are all key). Once they buy in, you’ll want them to have that family feeling.”

Murphy admits building a culture isn’t always easy. However, he’s up to the challenge.

“Buying in isn’t always an easy task when you are starting a whole new program,” Murphy said. “Just letting the girls know that you care and you really want to work them hard and make sure they are working on the right fundamentals. (You also want to

get them to) improve themselves as players and at the same time, improve as people.”

The novel coronavirus pandemic has made it challenging for Murphy to form relationships with players.

“You just have to keep communicating with them,” Murphy said. “Whether it’s asking them, ‘How is your day going so far?’ or, ‘How are you doing with this whole coronavirus (situation)?’ and things like that. Just letting them know that you really care about them, but it is tough. You haven’t really met them in person, and they wouldn’t know me from the guy behind the cash register. That’s tough. I’ll send them motivational things, and we’ll get into group texts together.”

Murphy sees the potential the Fairview girls basketball

program has to be successful and is looking forward to getting started.

“Fairview is a new challenge. However, it’s a challenge that can be successful, and they’ve had success in the past,” Murphy said. “The right pieces are there, but I think a coaching staff that really puts in the time, points these girls in the right direction on how to be successful and how to be better basketball players and how to be better people ... those are some of the things that you need for success.

“I always thought the three things that really stand out are communication, motivation and discipline. You have to have those three things in your program in any particular order.”

Murphy