Crestwood stayed in-house to find a replacement for boys’ basketball coach Josh Jakacki, who stepped down after the 2024-2025 season to take the same job at Kenston.
The Red Devils promoted middle school coach Andrew Mertz to take over the program.
“It’s extremely exciting,” Mertz said. “I’m really looking forward to it. I’ve had these guys for a long time who are coming up through the program. I’ve had a hand in developing the youth program that we have going, and we have really good numbers, so when Josh decided to leave, it was a no-brainer for me to kind of step in and continue with this group.”
Mertz, who spent three seasons coaching at the middle school level, graduated from St. Clairsville High School in 2004, where he was a three-year starter on the varsity squad. After high school, he attended Ohio University.
He has spent the past eight years coaching at the youth level, along with three seasons at the middle school level.
“I’ve been doing youth for basically the past eight years since we’ve moved here,” he said. “I’ve had the kids that are coming up right now basically for their entire career.”
Mertz is already familiar with the players in the Crestwood program, which allowed him to hit the ground running after being hired.
“That’s a huge help,” he said of his familiarity with the current players. “Even in the summer, I was able to get in the door soon enough to be able to participate in the summer league that we have done in the past, and I’ve already worked with a large portion of these guys for the past month, month and a half, and knowing them, I know a lot of their strengths and weaknesses. It should be a relatively easy transition for me.”
Mertz won’t try to reinvent the wheel at Crestwood.
He’s going to adopt a lot of what Jakacki used to build a solid program at Crestwood.
“Josh, Bob (Lieberth), Jake (Lieberth), and that whole coaching staff have been very helpful in this transition for me, and they will continue to be, as there are definitely big shoes to fill,” Mertz said. “Josh has done a lot for the program over the past years. He had a very strong emphasis on defense, which I know is something that he prided himself on, and that’s something I for sure will take with me. There’s a lot of stuff that he has done that I will continue to do.”
The Red Devils will run a new offense under Mertz.
“I come from more of an offensive-minded program, whereas Josh is more of a defensive-minded program, so I definitely will bring in a very fast-paced, high-octane offensive approach,” Mertz said. “I like to get lots of shots up, lots of guys, lots of turnovers, move the ball around a lot. I don’t like to run much of a settle down type offense, but I will take a lot of what he brings defensively and try to mesh those two together into something that’s new and exciting.”
