‘It is bittersweet’: Hoover girls basketball coach Josh Mason becomes Tiffin women’s coach

Hoover girls basketball coach Josh Mason celebrates as the Lady Vikes increase their lead over Walsh Jesuit during the first half of a Division I district semifinal basketball game on Tuesday.

NORTH CANTON — Josh Mason found himself in a place he didn’t necessarily expect to be on Thursday. Saying goodbye to his girls basketball players at Hoover High School after he was named the head women’s coach at Tiffin University.

“It is bittersweet,” Mason said Thursday evening. “I just wanted to make sure they understood this wasn’t a goodbye. It’s just a ‘see you later.’ I’m going to have to rock a different color jersey when I come to games, but I’m still going to be there and I’m still going to support them.”

Mason went 15-10 in his lone season with this Vikings this past winter. They reached the Ravenna Division I district championship game before losing to Hoban.

Mason came to Hoover a year ago after a one-year stint as an assistant coach for the Tiffin women’s program. Before that, he’d been the Cedarville High School girls basketball coach.

“When I left Cedarville three years ago, this was the dream, to do whatever I could do to make this happen,” Mason said of becoming a college head coach. “So, when I went to Tiffin and we had some success, I fell in love with the kids. If there’s anything anyone ever says about me, I would say one that comes up pretty frequently is the relationships I have with kids. It’s the most important thing to me, and I fell in love with those kids at Tiffin.”

Mason did the same at Hoover. That’s why his after-school meeting with them proved to be an emotional one.

“How they took me under their wing as somebody who’s not from Northeast Ohio and bought into the changes that I did, I’ll forever be grateful,” the Findlay native said. “You can ask anybody who was in that school building when I told the girls at 3. After I told them, I separated myself and I told them they were able to come in and talk to me and let me hear their feelings and for any closure. … The amount of tears from me and those kids, there wasn’t enough Kleenex.”

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The connection to Tiffin, as well as the desire to return to the college ranks as a head coach, was a pull Mason had made known early. That’s why the move was far from a shock to Hoover athletics director Tom Oakes.

“Josh and I, since the day he was first hired and I was first hired, switching from assistant principal to athletics director this past year, we’ve had fluid conversations throughout,” Oakes said. “I knew that he had a future goal to get back into the head coaching ranks at the college level. If you asked him, he probably never thought it would be this soon. But certainly we are extremely proud of Josh, proud of the relationships and connections he made with our student-athletes in the girls basketball program this school year.”

Mason, who had replaced nine-year Abby Allerding after she stepped down following the 2020-21 season, still has to formally submit his letter of resignation to the district, according to Oakes. The two are expected to meet Friday, which is when the official process to replace Mason can begin with a job posting.

Oakes acknowledged the time crunch of sorts that exists with the late change. June is a mere weeks away, an important month on the offseason basketball calendar.

However, Oakes isn’t going to allow that to force the district into a rushed process.

“We’re going to look for an individual just like Abbey Allerding, just like Josh Mason,” Oakes said. “One that’s great with kids, great communicators. Takes pride in the North Canton community. Certainly, we’re going see what we can find out there and see who the best person is available for this position.”

Tiffin was quite successful in Mason’s previous stint as an assistant coach. The Dragons won the Great Midwest Athletic Conference Tournament championship to earn their first NCAA Division II Tournament berth during the 2020-21 season.

Hoover girls basketball coach Josh Mason calls plays from the bench during the first half of a high school basketball game against STVM on Saturday.

Tiffin then reached the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament.

“I’m excited to have Josh back as a Tiffin University Dragon,” Tiffin athletics director Lonny Allen said in a release. “While his previous stint was short he made a huge impact on the women’s basketball team with the players, athletic training staff, and administration. Josh understands what is needed to compete at the highest level at TU and I am looking forward to seeing his progress.”

Mason had also compiled a 73-30 record in four seasons as the Cedarville girls coach, with three district runner-up finishes.

Reach Chris at chris.easterling@indeonline.com.

On Twitter: @ceasterlingINDE

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Tiffin University hires Josh Mason as women’s basketball head coach