By Jordan Burton (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
It will be a year of change for Springfield Catholic. The Irish love all five starters and eight total lettermen from last year’s 24-8 team that advanced to the Final Four.
But there is good… the Irish welcome Hall of Fame coach Jay Osborne to the program, taking over for Jack Simpson who took the Parkview job.
Osborne brings 36 years of experience to the table with 675 career wins, with numerous coach accolades including being named the MSHSAA Coach of the Year last year at Nixa.
“After announcing my retirement from Nixa, I really thought I would take some time off before finding another coaching job,” said Osborne. “But coaches can’t control when jobs will open up. I am really excited about this new challenge at Catholic. It is different from what I have been used to for such a long time, but change can be a really uplifting experience.”
A quartet of seniors will look to leave their mark in what has been an incredible run for Catholic Basketball.
Ryan Tauai (6-3), Jackson McDaniel (6-2), Reece White (5-11) and Andrew Hamilton (5-10) will all see significant increases in role and playing time after being reserves last year.
Juniors Jacob Schultze (6-2) and Rian Mulherin (6-0) will also see minutes. A trio of underclassmen will look to make a name for themselves this winter. Carson Smith is a 6-foot-4 sophomore that will add length, while classmate Isaiah Remulla will compete for backcourt minutes.
Freshman Ryder Rowden is also in contention for varsity reps.
Fans can expect to see a similar brand of basketball to what has been played the last several years at Nixa, with Catholic being fundamentally sound.
“We will be able to run multiple offenses,” said Osborne. “Defensively we will also be able to change mid game to control game tempo.”
Catholic has had six straight winning seasons, four of those ended with at least 20 wins. Three of those campaigns ended with district championships.
Osborne knows it’ll be a process to get everyone acclimated to varsity basketball, but everyone is excited to continue to push the program forward.
“Catholic lost eight seniors to graduation,” said Osborn. “We return JV players. Definitely a rebuild type feeling. We do have some good kids that are working hard. They are hungry to prove themselves and to carry on the tradition of success here at Catholic.
“Will be a work in progress until our players establish their roles. It may take some time – but I can see this team making vast improvements as the season progresses. Our goal is to be playing our best basketball late in the season.”
Catholic will open the 2022-23 season at Jay Osborn era on Nov. 28 at the Clever Invitational Tournament.
