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810V Top 20: KC Area Boys Coaches IV

By Chad Rader, 810 Varsity, 05/11/20, 7:00PM CDT

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Check out top 20 KC active coaches over last 10 years

810 Varsity takes a look at the top active Kansas City area boys basketball coaches, based on their careers and mainly since 2010.

Coaches are listed in alphabetical order

Part 4 of 4

Michael Schieber, Lee's Summit West


Photo: Darryl Woods, 810 Varsity

Schieber has been the program’s lone coach since the school opened, and has 310 total wins, including five 23+ win seasons. A barrel load of notable products have rolled through from Michael Dixon to last decade’s standouts in Shaq (NBA) and Monte Harrison (MLB), Elijah Childs and Yor Anei. The Titans advanced to the Class 5 final four three times in 2010-19, including the state title game in 2017.

2010-19:
183-91; State title game – 2017, 3rd Place: 2012, 2014

Roger Stirtz, Liberty


Photo: KCSports.net

If there’s one coach who can take 5 kids out of the student body and win 15+ games, it’s Stirtz. The Jays have won 20+ games in three of the last four seasons under Stirtz, who took over the LHS program in 2000.

2010-20:
17-win seasons – 7; District titles - 4

Steve Stitzer, Bishop Ward


Photo: Shawnee Mission Post

While a lot of area coaches get more headlines, Stitzer just kept going to state title games. Hogan Prep enjoyed three title games, including the 2011 state title – from 2010-2012. Stitzer shifted to the Kansas side, and won the Class 6A state title at Shawnee Mission North in 2016. Stitzer enters his second year rebuilding the Bishop Ward program.

2010-20:
20-win seasons – 4; State title games – 4; State titles – 2

Sam Stroh, Free State


Photo: Darryl Woods, 810 Varsity

Stroh simply just wins in his seven years as head coach (120-42), with his worst season at 15-7. After a 36-9 mark at Shawnee Heights, Stroh shifted to Free State and has led the Firebirds to four straight trips to the Kansas Class 6A tourney, including a third-place and runner-up finish.

2014-2020:
State tourneys – 5; Class 6A 2nd place (2017), Class 6A 3rd place (2018)

Billy Thomas, Barstow


Photo: LJWorld.com

Barstow has been the lone head coaching stop for the former Kansas Jayhawk, and a good one. The Knights enjoyed a three-year run (2013-16) of 83-9, which included three Missouri Class 3 state title games – including the 2015 championship, and the epic 62-60 game vs the Porter brothers in 2016.

2011-20:
192-70, State title games – 3; State titles – 2015, MOBCA Class 3 Coach of the Year

Rick Zych, Bishop Miege


Photo: Darryl Woods, 810 Varsity

Zych has become the godfather of Kansas City coaches, winning the Paul Lambert Coach of the Year four times in his career (no other coach has earned the honor more than twice since the award’s inception in 1984). The decade started with a perfect 25-0 mark and the Kansas Class 5A title, a 39-13 stint at Park Hill South, then returning to Miege with a Kansas Class 4A three-peat (2016—2018).

2010-20:
20-win seasons – 6; State titles – 4; State tourneys – 6

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