“It’ll be easier going in there because I know that guy that’s sitting in there,” Benjamin said.
Last week, Mike Holweger was named the program’s third coach since 1982. When Benjamin coached boys at Franklin, Holweger was the player on the scouting report Benjamin told his team to stop when they played Fenwick twice a year. Holweger later assisted on Benjamin’s girls staff at Springboro for a season. And their teaching careers overlapped at Springboro.
“It just feels weird that someone else is going to be coaching the team that I’ve coached for 18 years,” Benjamin said. “Mike’s a good guy. He’s a friend. And I look forward to seeing how he can do with the group.”
Holweger understands the winning tradition. He’s taught English at the school for 21 years, and he coached the boys team for four years through 2017, compiling a 56-39 record. When Holweger came to Springboro, Rick Creager was near the end of his 354 victories from 1982-2005. Then he watched Benjamin win 346 games for an average of 19.2 per season.
“It’s a special program,” Holweger said. “I feel very fortunate to have this opportunity. The advantage to following a legend, and Benj is a legend and a Hall of Famer no doubt, is that they do a good job. From top to bottom, everything’s in really healthy shape. Hopefully I do the job in such a way that makes him proud.”
The Panthers were 17-9 this season, won the Greater Western Ohio Conference and reached the Division I district finals with no seniors, nine sophomores, two juniors and two freshman. Sophomore guard Bryn Martin led the Panthers in scoring at 13.4 and made the all-Southwest District first team.
Benjamin, 65, tested his young team with a difficult schedule. He wanted to make them tougher and expose weaknesses to make them better.
“The adversity that that caused may have offset what the goal was,” Benjamin said. “The anxiety of the season took a toll on me that I have not dealt with in my career. Maybe I have, but I was younger. And I just wasn’t sure that I had the answers with this group, which is unusual for me, and I felt like somebody else would be beneficial for the group.”
Holweger is experienced at fresh starts. After four years as the boys coach, he coached eighth grade boys for a season at Centerville and was a varsity assistant the next to Brook Cupps in 2019-20. Holweger, who played at Wittenberg, was on the staff at Capital University when Cupps played there. Holweger then coached boys at Waynesville for one season and was head coach the past two seasons at Fenwick with records of 7-17 and 15-9. He said Fenwick was a great experience and his desire to change was all about Springboro.
“I have missed coaching in the building where I’m teaching,” he said. “The main reason for this is I know a lot of these players. I know the passion that they have for the game, and obviously they’re extremely talented. It’s just a great situation.”
Successful coaching situations marked Benjamin’s career. Counting 1979 when he coached middle school in Findlay while student teaching, he has coached in six decades, and 36 of his years on the bench he was the head coach, starting in 1986 at Franklin. He coached Brian Bales who became the head boys coach at Franklin and is now the Springboro boys head coach.
Benjamin resigned in 1996 to spend more time with his family. But when he realized they weren’t home much either, he became the Franklin girls head coach in the 1997-98 season and did that for eight years. They won a district title his first year the year after the team lost 20 games. Then he moved to Springboro as the girls coach and a year later started teaching there. He retired from teaching in 2013.
“I have a lot of great basketball memories, game memories,” he said. “But probably the highlight for me will always be the people that I have met, the players, the parents, the opponent coaches, people that I’ve coached with. Those relationships will always be the highlight above and beyond anything else. It would be stupid for me to say I didn’t have any regrets, and also I can’t even think of what they are.”
Whether he regrets not coaching anymore remains to be known. He said he will miss developing a team.
“I always felt like there was a time clock, and you just knew that there were segments in that time clock where you had to be moving forward,” he said. “The schedule was all were set up to make sure we were better as the year went on. I’ll miss all that. I’m not sure that I’m done coaching. I have no desire to coach anybody else right now. I can’t say that’ll be the case a year from now, but I’m at peace with the decision.”
Benjamin plans to call his good friend Ed Zink, who retired from Beavercreek two years ago. Zink coached the Beavers for 46 years and is the winningest girls coach in state history with a record of 810-277.
“I’m going to talk to him in a little bit and maybe join him at his favorite establishment,” Benjamin said. “I’m going to go and see what I’m in for.”
And while he’s cleaning out the coaches’ office, he can tell Holweger what he’s in for.
About the Author