Butler basketball players rejoin program as coaches
Play at home, coach at home.
Matt Clement has lived that through Butler High School basketball. Now a whole lot of people are living it right behind him.
Several former Golden Tornado basketball players — all of whom played under Clement — are now coaching and/or volunteering at some level in the program.
Longtime assistant Jim “Duck” Gallagher was Clement's freshman coach when the latter was a player in the early 1990's. Don Hilliard, a varsity assistant coach in the program until this season, was a teammate of Clement's at Butler. Jordan Harbison, a 1,600-point scorer at Portersville Christian who went on to play at Geneva College, is an individual skills coach for Butler basketball. His sister, Stephanie Trulick, was a nanny for the Clements when Matt was pitching for the Boston Red Sox.
“The Clements were family friends when I was growing up,” Harbison said. “When I got involved with The Scoring Factory (in Pittsburgh) as a skills coach, Matt asked me to work with some of his kids and it just grew from there.”
“It all ties together,” Clement said. “This is the type of program I envisioned and wanted to build when I took this job.
“I wanted guys to come back and be a part of it.”
And they have. The following Butler graduates and former Tornado basketball players now coach in the system:
Bobby Swartwout (2011), a standout center for Butler, is the program's junior varsity coach.
Tanner Wahler (2012) is a volunteer varsity assistant coach.
Rich Marnic (2014) is a freshman coach.
Jace Stutz (2017) is a volunteer assistant freshman coach.
Kelley Kuharic (2016) is an eighth grade coach.
Vinny Schmidt (2011) is a seventh grade coach.
Cody Herald (2011) was freshman coach and a former varsity assistant before leaving the area last year.
Ian McCarrier and Jason Gray (both 2017) are not official members of the staff, but come to numerous open gyms, summer workouts and practices to lend suggestions.
“Ian McCarrier is one of the best basketball minds to ever come through Butler,” said Stutz, a former teammate. “Not a lot of people know that, but he knows so much about the game.
“Those guys have a strong appreciation for this program. They offer so much guidance and input.”
Some of the current coaches in the system were standout high school players. Others were not.
All were part of the team.“Matt always gets everybody involved. Everybody plays a role,” Gallagher said. “It's a great atmosphere, celebrations as a group in the locker room after a win ... They're memorable. They're interesting. Guys want to come back to it.”Clement brings them back to it, making sure they know the door is always open.“That's how it was with me,” Swartwout recalled. “Matt told me if I ever wanted to come back and help out, there'd always be a spot for me. I never forgot that.“Once my career settled in, I came back last year as a freshman coach and helping out with the varsity. This year, I became JV coach. He (Clement) likes to bring back former players because we know the expectations, how he coaches, and we can help convey that message.”Swartwout works as a hall supervisor at Summit Academy. Stutz and Kuharic are students at Slippery Rock University. Schmidt is a systems analyst at Butler Memorial Hospital. Wahler is a financial planning analyst in Cranberry Township.They all find time for Butler basketball.Harbison is married and lives in the Sharon area. He makes the hour-long drive to and from Butler for practice every day during the season.“This is the type of program everyone wants to be part of,” Schmidt said. “Matt's smoothed it all out. From sixth grade on up, everyone's running the same offense, same system.“As kids transition up, they get better and better, more comfortable within the system. By the time they're juniors and seniors, you're witnessing the final product.”Gallagher pointed out that only eight varsity players have received significant playing time this year, yet the Butler bench has 15 or more players dressed for every game.“There are seniors on this team who rarely see the floor on game nights, yet they learn the offense of the opponent we're preparing for and go against our first team every day in practice,” Gallagher said. “That attitude is invaluable. It's a program thing.“When you have a coach who is so hard-working and competitive, that stuff filters down. That's why this team comes back to win games. That's why these players come back to coach.”Kuharic's younger brother, Cole, was a freshman in the Butler program when Kelley joined the coaching staff at that level.“I think we all help in the players' transition and growth,” Kuharic said. “We know how Matt does things. We've been through it.“I love the game of basketball. I know I'm not going to play anywhere else and coaching is my in, my way to remain a part of it.”Wahler gets off work in Cranberry and drives directly to Butler practices and games — all as a volunteer. He's been doing so for four years now.He's not planning on giving it up.“When I was 16, 17 ... I needed a mentor, someone I could look up to,” Wahler said. “Matt was that guy for me.“I love Butler basketball, the history of it. When I was a kid, watching Tyrell Sales, learning about the Mark Jula teams, the (Shawn and Chris) Bellis brothers, the McGarrahs, Maiers, all of it. They were super heroes to me when I was growing up.I picked their brains over the years.“To help keep a tradition like that going, that's why I'm here. That's why I keep doing it. As soon as I was done playing, I knew I'd be back,” Wahler added.The coaching staff offers ideas and suggestions — and Clement's ears are always open.“This is not a dictatorship,” Clement said.Gallagher concurs.“It's a family,” he said.
