ST. MARYS — History was made on Friday in St. Marys, as Elk County Catholic coach Aaron Straub became what is believed to be just the second coach in PIAA history to reach 1,000 career wins, as the Crusaders beat DuBois Central Catholic, 62-32.
Straub is now 1,000-268 in his storied career, which includes the first two seasons at ECC where he was the girls coach, going 27-21. He is 973-247 as the boys coach, spanning a total of 45 years.
Wil Wortman led the Crusaders attack with 25 points, as fellow senior Lance O’Neil didn’t play. Jack Breindel added 12 points in the win for the Crusaders, while Chase Simbeck added seven.
Marek Hoyt had 10 points for DuBois Central Catholic, while Brayden Fox and Xavier Schwentner added eight each.
The Crusaders improved to 9-0 on the season with the win.
Straub became the girls coach in 1980 and took over the boys’ program beginning with the 1982-83 season.
Straub guided his team to an undefeated season (33-30), beating Bishop Hannan for the title, 73-63. Hannan (now Holy Cross High School) had won the state championship in 2002, led by senior guard Gerry McNamara, who went on to win a national championship with Syracuse the next season. McNamara is currently the head coach at Siena.
That team was led by star guard Jesse Bosnik, who went on to play baseball and St. Bonaventure before being drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers, spending three years in professional baseball before going back to get school at IUP, using his final season of eligibility to play basketball for the Crimson Hawks.
Straub has won 26 District 9 titles, with the most recent coming last season and has appeared in the state semifinals on two other occasions, not counting the 2005-06 state championship team.
The only other known coach to reach 1,000 career wins in Pennsylvania is Loyalsock’s Ron Insinger, who is still active. His Loyalsock team captured the Class 3A state title in 2021, knocking off District 9 champion Brookville in the title game.
In addition to his coaching duties, Straub serves as the athletic director at ECC and is also chairman of the District 9 committee.
