Greenfield’s Angelos takes on Patriot test

Posted: Wednesday, May 15, 2013 12:00 pm

By RANDY CAVIN
Press Sports
First it was Gleason searching for a basketball coach; now it is Greenfield.
Peter Angelos has stepped down as the boys’ basketball coach at Greenfield to take the head coaching job at Henry County high School.
Greenfield’s head man for the past seven seasons, Angelos said it’s simply time to move and take a new challenge.
“I have been at Greenfield seven years now,” he said. “I feel I have gone about as far as I can with the program. The situation at Henry County is great and it is a good job, and the pay will be higher.”
Angelos guided the Yellowjackets to a 16-8 record this year and to the first round of the District 14A tournament before bowing out to eventual state runner-up Lake County. He took the Yellowjackets to the Region 7A semifinals in 2011 and 2012. He has amassed a 90-92 record during his seven seasons at Greenfield, including a 49-32 record the last three seasons.
“It has been a good seven years at Greenfield,” he said. “I have had a great group of kids during my seven years here, and you cannot win without great players, which I had here.”
Angelos will be replacing Mike Greer, who took the head coaching job at South Gibson High School last week. He was contacted by HCHS on Tuesday and met with the school officials on Wednesday.
He will also be closer to his daughter, who will be attending Huntingdon High School in the fall, and that helped to play into his decision.
“I will be closer to her as far as driving distance is concerned,” Angelos said. “It will save me time and gas, which is always nice.”
He said he believes the time is right for him to move on after competing with some of the best basketball programs, not only in 14A, but in the state in Class A. When he first arrived in Greenfield, he did not know if he could compete with Lake County, Humboldt and Union City.
“When I first got to Greenfield, I sat down and started wondering if I could beat the big three,” he said. “The last three years we have been able to beat them. We competed with the best in single-A.”
Angelos is looking forward to working at HC with the type of classroom schedules it has. The block schedule made the job even more attractive.
“They have a block schedule there that has 1.5 hour classroom periods,” he said. “They have that throughout the school year, and that was very appealing to me.”
Greenfield principal Mike Riggs said he is sad Angelos is leaving but realizes these coaching carousels happen every year across the state. He also said Henry County is going to be getting a good coach and teacher.
“It is going to hurt us both in basketball and in the classroom,” he said. “Pete is going to make a good coach and teacher for them. He is a Level 5 teacher and that is going to make him hard to replace.”
Riggs and Angelos have a long-standing friendship and he does not see that changing.
“We go way back,” Riggs said. “I coached against him when I was at Dresden. It is going to be tough. He will work hard and give them a super coach and teacher. Most people see his work on the floor, but they do not know what a good teacher he is.”
Riggs said the search for a new coach and teacher will start this morning. He said they do not want to rush into a decision; however, he would like to have a new coach in place before the basketball camps start up.
Published in The WCP 5.14.13