When Curt Ziegmont would drop his kids off for swimming lessons at Ned Hampford Natatorium this spring, he couldn’t resist showing them Martz Hall.
“I was taking my daughter and son walking into the gym there a little bit just to let them see it,” Ziegmont said. “It’s exciting. It’s the Mecca. There’s nothing better than Martz Hall in the league and possibly the eastern part of the state.”
Martz Hall has been home to some of the best moments in basketball history in this area.
Now it’s Ziegmont’s home, as well.
The Pottsville school board voted to accept Ziegmont as the new Crimson Tide girls’ basketball coach at its meeting Wednesday.
Ziegmont, 38, previously coached the North Schuylkill boys for 12 seasons, finishing as the program’s most winningest coach with a 197-101 mark.
The Spartans were a few years removed from a District 11 Class AAA title in 1999 before enduring some seasons around .500 when Ziegmont took over.
Ziegmont got North Schuylkill back to league and district royalty by 2008, when the Spartans reached the Schuylkill League and District 11 Class AA finals. He won the league title in 2009 after a Division I championship.
North Schuylkill went 17-6 overall last season, 10-4 in Division I, and was a District 11 Class AAA quarterfinalist.
The Pottsville girls have also been reclaiming their status in the league and district recently. That transformation was directed by Rick Wojciechowsky, who resigned in early April after four years as the program’s head coach.
The Crimson Tide went 34-14 during the last two seasons, qualifying for the Schuylkill League and District 11 playoffs both years. Pottsville went 0-4 in those postseason games, but only lost by an average of three points.
Pottsville finished 19-5 overall last year, 12-2 in Division I — both losses to North Schuylkill.
“When I first took over the North Schuylkill job, the program was really down,” Ziegmont said. “Rick Wojciechowsky did a great job of implementing the groundwork for starting a rather nice program and I feel like I’m just taking the baton off of him.”
But when a 26-year-old Ziegmont was looking to start his own program 12 years ago, North Schuylkill was the perfect fit.
He spent six years as an assistant coach with the Marian boys, chiseling out time between classes at Penn State Schuylkill, and he wanted to create a team of his own.
“I was young and I wanted to start building a program from the bottom up,” Ziegmont said. “At the time, North Schuylkill was at the bottom. It was pretty close to where I was living. It was attractive to me. I wanted the challenge to build a program.”
That won’t be a factor at Pottsville, where Wojociechowsky left behind a program already primed to win titles. However, Ziegmont admitted the talent in the Crimson Tide girls’ program was not a factor in his decision to take the job.
Four of the team’s five starters are back: two-time Republican-Herald All-Area first-team selection Sadie Cresswell, speedy guard Madison Sherakas, defensive specialist Alyssa Kondrack and 6-foot forward Kyra Schenk.
Pottsville also will have some depth with 3-point shooter Hannah Burnhauser and guard Sadie Comfort, who often contributed to the team before an injury limited her freshman season last year.
“Obviously I knew they were good the last couple years, being in the Schuylkill League playoffs and all,” Ziegmont said. “The situation I’m going into now is completely opposite of what I was going into when I first took over the job at North Schuylkill 12 years ago.”
Even though there are heavy expectations surrounding Pottsville’s girls’ team next season, Ziegmont is going to approach his first season at Martz Hall the same he would anywhere else.
He always has two primary goals: make districts and make the league playoffs. Once those are achieved, other doors can be opened.
“To me, expectations and those kinds of things are what you bring on yourself,” Ziegmont said. “No matter what job I take over, no matter where it’s at, I’m going to bring that type of mindset that we did at North Schuylkill. Every year, we were challenging for the division title, making sure we made district playoffs.”
Whatever the season holds, Ziegmont no longer has to peer into an empty, dark Martz Hall before swimming lessons.
He’s going to be the one turning on the lights.
Tamaqua announces new basketball coaches
TAMAQUA — Jimmie Barron and Erika (Barron) Davis have been named Tamaqua’s new boys’ and girls’ basketball coaches, respectively, the school announced Wednesday.
Barron takes over for Cazsy Kosciolek, who resigned after four seasons this spring.
Davis, who takes over for Joe Berezwick, is the Blue Raiders’ all-time leading scorer with 2,317 career points. The shooting guard played at Tamaqua from 2003-07 before playing college ball at Susquehanna.
She is the third coach to be hired since six girls’ basketball coaches resigned this offseason.
Both coaches were hired at the school’s board meeting Tuesday night.