BY DAVID GRIFFIN

This year, the Wadsworth boys basketball program added a valuable new piece to the coaching staff: new volunteer assistant Greg Wise.

Throughout much of his life, coaching was considered a “dream job” for Wise. The main reason he wanted to attend college was to get a degree in education so he could coach basketball. Originally, Wise studied to be a history teacher, but as he progressed to sophomore year in college, he switched his major to physical education. After college, he became a worker at the Home Depot, where he is currently employed as a senior manager.

During last basketball season, while watching his daughter cheerleading at the freshman games, he saw an opportunity to realize his coaching dream.

“I saw opportunities there during games where there was a teachable moment but Coach Shenker could not teach because he was busy coaching the game,” said Wise.

He spoke to head coach Mike Schmelzer Jr. right after the season offering to volunteer coach the freshman team. Coach Schmelzer happily accepted and asked him to do additional work with the team’s post players.

“Doing what I am doing now,–coaching at the high school level– is probably my greatest achievement in basketball,” stated Wise.
Wise loves helping pass on basketball knowledge and teach the next generation. Coach Wise donates a lot of time to the basketball program. This summer, he spent countless hours with the post players doing workouts. He would often get up as early as 7:00 a.m. before work to get a workout in with the post players.

Wise’s philosophy on life is to “make each day better than the last and try to improve everything you touch,” and he takes this to heart when he works with the team. He considers every practice to be an opportunity for each player to improve.

As a coach this season, he has made many contributions to the team. On an average day, Wise works with the freshman team, but when it comes to game day, Wise helps with the freshman, junior varsity, and varsity teams. He advises the head coaches and is able to make teaching points during the games.

Wise tries to coach with a philosophy believed by John Wooden, the legendary UCLA basketball coach: “It is the little details that are vital. Little things make the big things happen.”