West Geauga hires Craemer as new coach

West Geauga lands Harvey’s Brian Craemer as its new head football coach. Craemer suc‑ ceeds Lou Cirino, who is now at Strongsville. John Kampf catches up with the new Wol‑ verines’ coach.

Brian Craemer is heading home to Geauga County.

Craemer has been selected to be the new head football coach at West Geauga. A special meeting will be held at 7:30 a.m. May 1 for the 31-year old Craemer to be approved by the West Geauga board of education to be the Wolverines’ head coach.

Craemer, who has spent the past three years at Harvey — two as the head coach — takes over the West Geauga program from Lou Cirino, who resigned to take the head coaching vacancy at Strongsville.

“I am extremely excited for this incredible opportunity,” Craemer said. “I’m coming back to Geauga County to West Geauga, who athletically, academically and administratively is amazing. Everything there is going in the right direction.”

Craemer is no stranger to Geauga County. He graduated from Berkshire in 2004. He also has coaching experience at Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin, Newbury, Kenston and Berkshire inside the county, as well as at Crestwood and Lakeside.

After three years in Lake County, he is looking forward to moving on to West Geauga, where he will also teach social studies.

“I had the opportunity to coach against them the last couple years, and obviously it’s a very talented bunch,” Craemer said. “I think Coach Cirino did a great job there. It’s a highcharacter program. I am excited to build upon what they already have going there.”

West Geauga athletic director Joe Leonette said the process to replace Cirino took longer than expected, but he is “ecstatic” with the result. He said there were 60 applicants for the position.

“I think that shows we are doing something right here to have that kind of interest,” Leonette said.

As part of the process, Leonette made numerous phone calls and reached out to countless parties gauging success.

“In that process, the name that kept coming up and coming across my desk was Brian Craemer,” Leonette said. “Every time. This Brian Craemer kept coming up. But he never applied. I finally got his number and reached out to him.”

Originally, Leonette said, Craemer politely declined. Then a few days later, Leonette got a call from Craemer.

“We narrowed it down to three and sat with our committee,” Leonette said. “At the end, they were excited about Brian. He was my guy from the get-go.”

It has been an exciting year for the Craemer family. Not only does he have a new job, but he and his wife, Sara, recently welcomed newborn son Arthur David Craemer into the world March 4.

He said the decision to go to West Geauga was a family decision with he and his wife.

Leaving Harvey was not easy.

“That was a tough decision,” Craemer said. “Working there was a blessing, an incredible experience.”

Quarterback camp

Bill Reagan’s Top Gun Quarterback Camp will be held at Jefferson High School June 6, 7 and 8.

The camp will be divided into two age levels — grades 5-8 from 9-10:30 a.m. and grades 9-12 from 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

Camp director Bill Reagan has coaching experience at Elite 11, Notre Dame, Ashland and St. Joseph College.

Cost of camp is $150 for the younger group and $190 for the older group. Camp space is limited.

For information, visit reagantopgunqbtraining.com, email reagan.8@ nd.edu, or call 574-8766349.

Craemer