Quick boys’ basketball story for you — Geoff Groff is headed back to Lancaster Mennonite’s bench to coach the Blazers. Our Jason Guarente got the scoop. Here’s his story from Wednesday’s New Era:
Geoff Groff is returning to the varsity bench.
The longtime Lancaster Mennonite boys’ basketball coach, who resigned in 2003 to spend more time with his family, has been re-hired to run the Blazers.
Groff will take the place of Mark Pedersen, who stepped down after five seasons.
LMH enjoyed great success during Groff’s first tenure. The Blazers went 234-149 over a 15-year span. They won 20 games six times, captured a District 3 Triple-A title in 1997 and reached the state semifinals in 2002.
It was the perfect set of circumstances for Groff and his winning program.
“I had good assistants,” he said. “The players worked really hard. There are a lot of things that had to fall into place. You have to stay healthy to be successful and we were very fortunate.”
Groff’s goal now is to return Mennonite to its glory days.
“We’re going to try,” he said. “The kids have to be willing to put in the time. I don’t know that I ever set out and said how many games we’re going to win. If we can work hard and work together, we’ll increase our chances of being successful.”
Following his resignation, Groff took one year off from coaching before serving as a junior high coach for the past four seasons.
The varsity challenge will be different. There’s more attention, more intensity and more complexity.
Groff is looking forward to his new, old job.
LMH slipped from the L-L League’s elite after Groff left. The Blazers had just two winning seasons and didn’t qualify for the league playoffs.
They hope that trend is over.
Groff said his favorite memory from his first tour of duty at Mennonite came at the end of the Blazers’ district championship season — when they were eliminated from the state playoffs.
“Even though we lost the game, I remember it as being a special bus ride home,” he said. “You talk about doing certain things. That particular team was able to do those things. The seniors did their job on the floor and handled themselves well off the floor.”
Groff and the Blazers will have a chance to create some new memories starting this season.
