Firelands taps former player

Firelands has found its new head varsity basketball coach, and they didn’t have to look far.

Colin Myers, a 2017 Firelands graduate who earned All-Ohio Division II honorable mention honors his senior year, has been named the new head coach. Myers will replace Alan Januzzi, who left for Open Door. His contract was approved at the May Board of Education meeting.

“As soon as Coach (Januzzi) left, he tried to plant the idea in my head that ‘this might be a great opportunity for you to take over,’ ” Myers said. “When he took the job at Open Door, he was very supportive of me taking over here at Firelands. That’s what got the ball rolling on becoming the head coach.”

“After I interviewed with (Athletic Director) Ty (Spellman), you never really know how you did until a while later,” Myers continued. “It was supposed to be a couple days before I was supposed to hear back. I got a call from him one or two days later and the interview committee said the direction the program wanted to go, I would be the best fit to take them there.”

“I was very surprised. There were a lot of good candidates, so it really meant a lot for me to get that phone call and get this opportunity.”

Only 23 years of age, Myers will be one of the younger coaches, if not the youngest head coach in the Lorain County League.

“It helped that I played two seasons under Coach Januzzi when I was a player in high school,” said Myers, who also competed on the football gridiron and as a track athlete in high school before moving on to play basketball and run track at Wilmington College.

“I still knew his philosophy from back then, so I was able to take over as an assistant and the JV coach and hop right into it. But everything moved fast.”

Myers will have more than a half-dozen underclassmen returning from last season.