Despite having one of the better coaching records in Pennsylvania over the past decade or so, Lower Burrell native Mike Nesbit rarely has brought his team to play in the Alle-Kiski Valley.
But come Saturday night, Nesbit will have his DuBois Central Catholic boys basketball team in Natrona Heights for a game against St. Joseph.
Nesbit's Cardinals are off to another great start, compiling a 10-1 record going into this week's games.
But the great start is nothing new. Nesbit has a 255-84 record at DuBois Central in his 13th season. He had a 79-10 mark before that in just three seasons with the girls varsity.
His worst season coaching there has been a 15-win campaign.
But his teams have appeared in the area just twice during his tenure. The Cardinals played St. Joseph during the 2000-01 season at Highlands Junior High School and, in 2007, DuBois Central knocked off newly-crowned WPIAL Class A champion Leechburg at Fox Chapel High School.
Nesbit, a 1982 Burrell High School graduate, has become good friends with Spartans coach Kelly Robinson. For a number of years, St. Joseph opened the season at the DuBois Central Tip-Off Tournament. Last month, St. Joseph sponsored its own tournament to launch the season.
Nesbit first acquired the coaching bug while attending Clarion University.
"I grew up on Vermont Drive in Lower Burrell, and everybody played sports," Nesbit said. "In college, I became friends with women's coach Doris Black. I began to keep stats with other things and it really began to pique my interest."
Nesbit soon switched his major to education and coached the North Clarion High School baseball team while he was student teaching.
His 2007 boys basketball team made it to the PIAA state finals at Penn State.
"That was the experience of a lifetime," Nesbit said. "We finished fourth in the District 9 tournament, then beat Leechburg and, in the western final against Kennedy Catholic, we were down 18 and had a 19-0 run to win at the buzzer."
Saturday's game starts at 7:30 p.m. at the Walter Dlubak Athletic Center.
New book available
Mark Hostutler's book, "Heads of State: Pennsylvania's Greatest High School Basketball Players of the Modern Era" is now available online.
The book gives biographical sketches of 150 players. Local entries include Valley's B.B. Flenory, Tom Pipkins and Bill Varner.
Another player highlighted is Dick DeVenzio, who went to Springdale High School for his sophomore and junior seasons before transferring to Ambridge for that school's 1967 state title run.
Fans can order the book on websites such as amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com. Once online sales reach 500, the book will be available on store shelves.
Hostutler, a teacher in the West Chester School District, has made the rounds on radio shows and is getting flack from Philadelphia-area fans after ranking Carlisle's Billy Owens No. 1 instead of Overbrook's Wilt Chamberlain, who checks in at No. 3.
Lower Merion's Kobe Bryant is No. 2 on Hostutler's list.
