Dave Close spent most of his days as a teacher and coach at Stow-Munroe Falls High School planning and looking ahead.
In retirement, Close is spending more time reflecting, especially after he was inducted into the Ohio High School Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame on April 25.
Close, 68, was one of five people honored at the Marriott Hotel in Columbus. He was joined by family members, friends, teammates from his playing days at Taylor University, and players he coached at Painesville Riverside and Stow.
“When you’re actively coaching there is very, very little time for reflection and looking back,” Close said in an interview with the Akron Beacon Journal on Sunday, April 26. “For example, if you got a big win on Tuesday night, you can’t celebrate it. You gotta get home and start preparing for Friday’s game. The last game of the season is over, you can’t really reflect because you gotta get ready for the banquet, you gotta get ready for summer stuff and next year’s schedule, and you can never stop and smell the roses.
“You do very little reflecting of recent past and long past. There is always something you’re getting ready for. That is part of the stress of coaching. You’re never caught up. Now that I’m retired, I have plenty of time to reflect.”
Close, a 1976 Stow graduate, retired from coaching after the 2024-2025 season. He compiled a 619-256 record in 37 seasons at Stow after going 48-18 at Painesville Riverside in three seasons. His 667 career wins are No. 11 in Ohio history.
Close won 15 league titles (13 at Stow) and 28 sectional crowns (27 at Stow). His Stow teams won seven Division I district championships, two Division I regional titles and played in Division I state semifinal games in 1990 and 1993. Stow finished a district runner-up 10 times and a regional runner-up three times under Close.
Close played basketball at Stow and Taylor University. He earned college degrees from Taylor and Kent State, and got his start in coaching with two years under both Taylor Hall of Famer Paul Patterson and Kent Hall of Famer Jim McDonald.
“I was a grad assistant at Kent State [from 1982-1984],” Close said. “I remember the Kent State staff had two tickets to the [high school boys basketball] final four [in Columbus], and the head coach, Jim McDonald, couldn’t go, so I went with Roger Lyons, an assistant coach [in March 1983]. It was my first final four.
“… I studied the program, the actual physical program they hand out at the games. I look at things, like, who beat these guys during the year and what kind of schedule do they play? It was my first year in Ohio as a coach. What are these coaches’ career records? You go through all these teams and all these coaches had great lifetime records and they are playing good schedules. I’m thinking, how do you establish a program, a program that can be consistently good?
“At that time, I probably had more questions than answers, but what I did know was that I was going to work at this as hard as I could, I was going to learn as much as I could, I was going to try to get better every day and I want to impact people’s lives. That’s what I knew. I had an opportunity to work with three great coaches as an assistant, all in their first years of building a program — Paul Patterson at Taylor, Jim McDonald at Kent State and Biff Lloyd at Maple Heights.”
Close established a winning program at Stow and guided the Bulldogs to national rankings in 1993 (as high as No. 10) and in 1994 (as high as No. 5) in the USA Today poll. His 1993 and 1994 teams were No. 1 in the final Associated Press poll and scored more than 92 points per game.
Close coached two Ohio Players of the Year — Kevin Kovach in 1993 and Geoff Byrne in 1994 — and 36 players who received All-Ohio honors.
“I had great kids at Riverside and great kids at Stow that bought in, and were willing to work hard and try to be the best that they could be,” Close said. “To me, it is about seeking excellence and being excellent in what you do. All the little details matter. … I’ve been blessed with some great assistant coaches over the years and young men who truly wanted to strive for excellence.”
Close was named a league Coach of the Year 15 times and earned 24 other Coach of the Year honors, including being the Summit County Coach of the Year three times, All-Ohio Northeast Inland District Division I Coach of the Year two times, the Associated Press Ohio Boys Basketball Coach of the Year in 1993 and the Ohio High School Basketball Coaches Association Division I Coach of the Year in 2023.
Close also received the John Wooden Legacy Award from the National High School Basketball Coaches Association and the OHSBCA at the OHSAA boys basketball state tournament in March.
“[The Hall of Fame banquet] was pretty amazing,” Close said. “The place who hosted had a nice facility, professionally organized, nice program. I enjoyed being with the four other inductees. It was an outstanding experience. Having my guys there from Riverside and Stow, and my entire family was special.
“My brother [Don] flew up from Florida. He was my hero. I grew up watching him play. He’s six years older than me. He was the Akron Beacon Journal Player of the Year [in 1970] and played at the University of Florida. He’s the only member of my family that’s left. Our parents [Donald and Peggy] have passed on. My other brother [Doug] has passed on. He came up here to be there, and that was incredibly special to me. My wife [Pat] and I have two kids [Cameron and Jackie] living out of state in Wisconsin and Indiana, and they came in. That was a real blessing to spend time with them and our daughter [Angela] who lives locally.
“… I didn’t want it to end. My message was, I was blessed to maybe win a few games, a few championships, cut down a few nets and get a few plaques on the wall, things like that. But the Good Lord really didn’t call me to do that. He called me to coach basketball to impact lives. The thing I want for my kids is the road map to seek excellence in basketball. You learn that road map, and it’s the same road map for anything you do for the rest of your life. Working hard, paying attention to details, going the extra mile, taking care of people, playing to your strengths, all that stuff is a road map for success in everything.”
Akron Beacon Journal sports writer Michael Beaven can be reached by email at mbeaven@thebeaconjournal.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Retired Stow basketball coach Dave Close reflects on Hall of Fame career
Reporting by Michael Beaven, Akron Beacon Journal / Akron Beacon Journal
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