Timing, Charleroi right for Greer
After Charleroi High School recently opened its boys basketball head coaching position, a dozen people applied for the job.
Tuesday night, the Charleroi School Board hired Joe Greer to take over for longtime coach Bill Wiltz.
While Greer has an extensive coaching resume, this will be his first head coaching job.
“I have done a lot of coaching as an assistant from youth to high school,” he said. “It was the right time and the right place for me.
“I have had leadership positions in the pharmaceutical industry and after leaving pharm was a teaching assistant at Northgate the last three years.”
Charleroi athletic director Ashley Abbott was impressed with Greer.
“His energy and plan for our program was impressive,” she said. “He has a wealth of basketball knowledge and is a great addition to our district.”
Greer, who grew up in Bellevue and lives in Jefferson Hills, always had his eye on eventually becoming a head coach. The timing wasn’t right until now.
“I have always wanted to have the opportunity to run my own program,” he said. “I played for some great coaches and worked for some great coaches.
“In my personal life and my professional life, this was the right time, and I have the time needed to dedicate to be the head coach.”
Greer is no stranger to the Mon Valley as he was a boys assistant under Kyle DeGregorio at Belle Vernon.
“I know the Mon Valley and got familiar with the district,” he said. “What I saw and what I heard, the district has very strong leadership, starting with the superintendent and it has a stable and veteran school board.
“Those two things are huge when walking into a new leadership position.”
After coaching with DeGregorio at Belle Vernon and then at Baldwin with its girls program, Greer coached the last two years at Northgate under Cam Williams.
“Charleroi is getting a really good basketball coach and a grad-A person,” DeGregorio said. “he will do whatever they can to help those kids.”
“He has a natural ability to grab kids’ attention and (get) them opening up to him,” Williams said. “He wants to compete. He will be fiery, he has high energy and he has passion. He likes challenges.”
Charleroi had a 9-13 overall record last season, including a 4-8 mark in Class Section 4-AAA.
“There is history and tradition with Charleroi athletics,” Greer said. “They have tough kids in the school and in the community, and that made this a very desirable position.
“The goal of the program for me, in very general terms, is to develop and expand the program so we can engage our youngest students from grade one to seniors. I have a high level of energy, and I want to surround our students with good coaches and a high level of expertise.
“We want this to be inclusive to everyone in the building,” he continued, “and develop the younger grades and enhance the ones that are already there. Hopefully, this leads to our team having success on the court.”