Krieg hired to lead JC boys

Jay County High School has its new boys basketball coach.
Jay School Board approved Monday the hiring of Chris Krieg as the ninth coach in program history.
He replaces longtime coach Craig Teagle, who left the team in July for the same position at Huntington North.
“Basketball has always been the love of my life,” said Krieg, who graduated from Jay County in 1983. “The ultimate goal was to be the boys basketball coach here some day.”
For JCHS athletics director Steve Boozier and the hiring committee —principal Chad Dodd, assistant athletics director James Myers and school board members Kristi Betts and Cory Gundrum — the decision to hire Krieg wasn’t necessarily an easy one.
“It was a very competitive process,” Boozier said. “When it came down to it there were a few intangibles that worked in his favor.
“He has proven himself as a head coach. The (girls) team has improved every year. At the end of the season the team is better than what it was at the beginning.
“I think he deserves the opportunity to take over the boys program.”
For Krieg, deciding to leave behind his girls’ squad for the boys team was challenging. He led the girls for the past five seasons, compiling a 57-49 record in the process.
The girls team is coming off a season during which it won 20 games — the most since back-to-back 18-win seasons in 2007-08 and 2008-09. The Patriots also won both the Allen County Athletic Conference regular season and tournament championships.
The girls’ squad returns three of its five regular starters in Abby Wendel, Ava Kunkler and Taylor Homan, and it has a core of reserve players who saw a considerable amount of time on the court as well.
“It was the toughest decision I’ve ever had to make in my life,” said Krieg, adding that he took the team out to dinner before Monday’s school board meeting to break the news — he wanted to be the one to inform them. “I built a great relationship with those girls.
“I’m not walking away. I will still be there to support them.”
Krieg takes over a boys program that was 18-7 last year, marking the program’s 14th consecutive winning season. Teagle’s Patriots lost the ACAC tournament championship game to Leo, which also handed Jay County its only regular-season conference loss. Leo left the ACAC after this past season, leaving both titles up for grabs.
Additionally, the Patriots lost in the sectional championship to the eventual Class 4A state champion Homestead Spartans.
With Teagle at the helm, Jay County was one of, if not the, best defensive team in the state. The Patriots set a new team record allowing just 33.1 points, almost two full points better than the 2011-12 squad that gave up 35 points per game.
Krieg hopes to continue the trend of having such a tenacious defense.
“That is a huge part of it,” he said. “Defense dictates your offense. We’re going to keep that same (defensive) philosophy.”
“We want to continue that,” he said.
Krieg coached under Teagle for nine seasons, and when he took the girls’ coaching job in 2010 he adopted a similar system, making tweaks along the way to fit his players.
While the Patriots graduated three starters — Justin Dirksen, Zach Pryor and Nick Clemens — they will return their top two scorers in Adam Dirksen (11.5 points per game) and Jay Houck (11.1 PPG). They were also the team’s top two rebounders, with Dirksen grabbing five boards per game and Houck hauling in 4.4 rebounds.
Krieg will have his son Garrett as his assistant. The 2011 JCHS graduate was the junior varsity boys coach last season. Chris is relishing the opportunity to get to coach with his son.
“It is an honor to work with your son,” said Krieg, whose new squad is slated to open its season Nov. 24 at home against Winchester. “That is the thing that I really look forward to.
“Basketball was his life as a kid. He continued that (playing for) Teagle and he’ll continue that with me.”