After a successful tenure as a boys basketball coach in the City League, Chuck Jefferson has a new challenge of guiding a program in the OCC.
Jefferson, who went 115-63 in eight seasons at his alma mater, Walnut Ridge, recently was named the boys coach at Canal Winchester. He succeeds Zach Olson, who led the program for six seasons.
“I’m ecstatic,” Jefferson said. “I’m excited for the new opportunity, the new challenge. Canal is a gold mine. I’m excited for the opportunity to build there. There’s great community support. There’s great support from [the athletic director], Mr. [Jacob] Ramsey, and our principal, Ada Nicholson-Burley. I have to make sure that everything is in line for their mission as far as athletics and academics for Canal.”
Canal Winchester went 8-15 overall and 4-10 in the OCC-Buckeye last season. It had one winning season under Olson, going 13-9 in 2020-21.
Jefferson, 40, led the Scots to a 15-10 record this winter. They went 12-2 in the City-South, finishing a game behind champion Africentric.
“It was tough leaving my alma mater, but I felt like for the next stage, the next coaching challenge for me in my career, it was time to go,” Jefferson said. “I’ve done a lot of great things and I’ll always be thankful for Walnut Ridge giving me the opportunity. We had a great run. We had a lot of success.”
Jefferson, who graduated from Walnut Ridge in 2003 and went on to play basketball at Urbana, helped the Scots end a 49-year City League title drought in 2020, beating Linden-McKinley 74-59 in the championship game.
Walnut Ridge won its lone district title under Jefferson that season, and then-senior VonCameron Davis was named Ohio Mr. Basketball. Davis went on to play at Kent State.
The Scots have been district runners-up the last three seasons.
“We were fortunate to have a very diverse pool [of candidates], but early in the process, coach Jefferson stood out as one of the top contenders,” Ramsey said. “We had a lot of stakeholders involved in the process from boosters, parents, student-athletes and administrators. He was able to captivate that crowd during the process.”
Before taking over at Walnut Ridge, which was Jefferson’s first varsity head-coaching job, he was an assistant under Jason Bates for four seasons at Pickerington North.
“Canal Winchester is in great hands with the hire of coach Jefferson,” Bates said. “He has a great basketball mind and is a phenomenal leader of young people. He was an integral part of our early success at Pickerington North. His subsequent success as head coach at Walnut Ridge comes as no surprise to those who have worked with him.
“Coach Jefferson has a gift for not only relating to all of his players but also motivating them to reach their full potential both on and off the basketball court.”
Jefferson said coaching at North helped him become familiar with OCC play.
“From a coaching standpoint and player personnel, there’s not much of a difference [between the OCC and City League],” Jefferson said. “They’re both competitive, so I get to continue that spirit in regard to a competing standpoint.”
High school sports reporter Frank DiRenna can be reached at fdirenna@dispatch.com and at @DispatchFrank on X.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Chuck Jefferson embraces chance to build Canal Winchester basketball
Reporting by Frank DiRenna, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
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