HALL OF FAME INDUCTEE
DAVID SWEET,
OTTAWA GLANDORF
2008 RECIPIENT
Coach Sweet graduated from
Norwalk High School in 1972. In 1976 he graduated from Bowling Green State
University with a B.S.in Business Education. In 1979 he received his Masters
Degree in Educational Administration from the University of Dayton. He has
been a member of the OHSBCA since 1976. You do not find many coaches who
spend their entire career at one high school. That is a refreshing bit of
information. At Ottawa-Glandorf his teams won 449 games over 26 years.
Coach Sweets winning percentage of .736 places him in the top 50 of the Ohio
Basketball Coaches Association’s record book. His 161 losses places him in
the top 50 for the fewest number of losses. David also has a fine tournament
record of 66 wins and 26 losses for a win percentage of 71.7%.
In 2004 the Ottawa-Glandorf Titans won the Division II State Championship.
Coach Sweet also had a Division II State Runner Up in 1996. Other highlights
of his career include the following: 5 times in the NW Regional finals, 8
District Championships, 21 Sectional Championships, 13 Western Buckeye
League Championships, 23 non losing seasons, 25 years of double digit
victories, his teams were often in the State Rankings.
Personal awards for Coach Sweet include being inducted into the Norwalk High
School Hall of Fame, receiving the Modern Woodman Citizen of the Year Award
in 2001, several coach of the year honors in the W.B.L. and in District 8.
He was State Coach of the Year once and Northwest Ohio Coach of the Year
three times. He coached in several all-star games including the Ohio
North-South game and the Ohio-Indiana All Star game. He is also the
recipient of the Bob Arnzen Longevity Award, an undefeated season in
1985-1986, being able to coach his two sons; playing against LaBron James
two straught years in the Regional Finals and making the Ottawa-Glandorf
Basketball program recognized throughout the State of Ohio.
Coach Sweet’s coaching philosophy revolved around five important aspects;
Keep things simple; players have to understand their roles; play extremely
hard on defense; players need to be fundamentally sound; and his players
needed to know they would be worked hard enough to make themselves more
physically and mentally tougher than their opponents. He also believed that
coaches are teachers, so teaching must be done on the floor.
Coach Sweet
has been married to his wife, Rita, for 28 years. Through his 26 years as
the Head Basketball Coach, Rita has always been there to observe, listen and
give support. They have three children; Jason, Eric and Elizabeth. Jason and
Eric played high school basketball for their dad and Elizabeth played for
the successful Lady Titans program.
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