Gann selected as Tribe coach

FORT RECOVERY — One of the program’s best players is returning to Fort Site Fieldhouse.

She’ll be roaming the sidelines this time, instead of making steals, grabbing rebounds and getting buckets.

Holly (Stein) Gann, a 2007 Fort Recovery High School graduate, will become the Indians’ ninth girls basketball coach pending school board approval at its meeting Monday.

“I am thrilled to welcome Holly (Stein) Gann to the Fort Recovery Lady Indians basketball coaching program,” FRHS interim athletics director Barb Sautbine said in a statement. “Holly is a very enthusiastic and energetic person. She is willing to take on new challenges and is the right person for the future of the program.

“She will be a great asset to our staff.”

Gann would replace Brian Patch, the school’s all-time leader in basketball coaching victories (244) after leading Fort Recovery for the last 16 seasons, including the previous six as the girls coach. He resigned March 12.

“I?love the passion of the youth in general and getting them to become better people,”?said Gann, who lives in Fort Recovery with her son Wyatt, 7, and 3-year-old daughter Olivia. “That led to my decision to apply, seeing how I?would be able to maximize that passion, to have the kids have a good experience just like I?had.”

During her time at Fort Recovery, Gann shined for the Indians on the basketball court as a four-year starter and her name is peppered throughout the school’s record books. She is third in steals for a career (240), sixth in career scoring (1,048 points) and seventh in rebounds in a career (513).

She is also among the program’s best in 3-pointers made for a season (fourth – 44), steals in a season (sixth – 79) and points in a season (16th – 332).

During her junior and senior seasons, she was named first team All-Midwest Athletic Conference.

As a track athlete, Gann was a three-time state qualifier, and her still-standing school record discus throw of 125 feet, 8 inches, earned her seventh place in the state meet as a senior. She also holds the school record in shot put (38 feet, 9.25 inches).

Gann, who earned 11 letters as an Indian, was inducted into the Fort Recovery athletics Hall of Fame in February.

After graduating from FRHS, Gann participated in basketball and track for two seasons at Defiance College. She still sits second all-time for the Yellow Jackets in free throw percentage for a season (89.4 percent) and career (85.9 percent). She is also third in javelin and shot put, fourth in discus and fifth for indoor shot put.

Gann, who teaches math at Greenville Middle School and coached at that level near Indianapolis and is currently a track coach at Fort Recovery Middle School, said her biggest challenge will be instituting a family-like atmosphere within her progam.

“Culture is everything, right, so creating a culture of winning and becoming that family,”?she said. “Yes winning is important, but instilling being better people is just as important because sometimes we get caught up on winning and losing.”