The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
McGregor moving from Hawken to Kirtland
After 19 years coaching at Hawken, there were few opportunities that would cause Shawn McGregor to consider leaving his post as the head boys varsity basketball coach on County Line Road.
McGregor and his wife, Anna, moved to Kirtland shortly after they married five years ago. Since, they’ve added 3-year-old Norah and 8-monthold Carsan to their family.
When former Hornets basketball coach Nick Gallo resigned, McGregor sent out his only application of the spring for a chance at more time with his family.
May 29, McGregor was approved by the Kirtland Board of Education as the new varsity basketball coach.
“Ultimately it came down to when my little girl gives me a hug when I run through the doorway, I need to be the dad that’s going to be around and really involved in their life as much as I can,” McGregor said.
McGregor began his coaching tenure at Hawken in 2000. He spent four seasons as an assistant basketball coach before he was elevated to the head job, which he’s held for the previous 15 seasons. During the spring season, McGregor was also an assistant to baseball coach Aaron Brandt.
McGregor works in Cleveland at Distillata, a water delivery company. An easier commute to Kirtland from work and his home, which is minutes away from the school, made the position more amenable to McGregor’s family. His wife works at Metzenbaum School in Geauga County and his children will attend Kirtland schools when they are of age.
McGregor didn’t arrive
at the decision to leave Hawken lightly.
“The kids and the community there are so outstanding,” McGregor said “I grew up there. I grew up, I made my mistakes there as far as coaching, learned a lot under guys like Cliff Walton, Andy Suttell, Ken Clark and Aaron Brandt.”
Hawken finished the 2017-18 season 13-9. The Hawks were eliminated by Woodridge in a Division II Stow District sectional semifinal. McGregor helped develop 1,000-point scorer Hugh Brown, headed to Lake Erie College, and
Brendan Paul, who will join Syracuse’s basketball team as a preferred walkon in the fall after a prep year at Brewster Academy in Wolfeboro, N.H..
Kirtland went 13-9 and was eliminated by Columbia in a D-III Garfield Heights District sectional final. The Hornets return 10 seniors to next year’s team, led by Seann McGill, Kyle Work and Dom Capretta.
Football season often overlaps into the winter as the Hornets annually compete for state championships during the fall
season. McGregor expects Kirtland’s basketball team to at least compete for Chagrin Valley Conference and district titles. He figures his program will benefit from the many multi-sport student-athletes’ familiarity with high competition and expectations.
“With the way that we play, it’s all about competing and letting the dogs loose,” McGregor said. “We just want guys to get after people, be physical so the style of play I like to play, I think, really fits into what Kirtland can be really good at to accomplish the goals.”