Amos takes over Beth-Center boys
When Barry Niemiec moved to the athletic director’s position at Beth-Center High School, he left his position as head coach of the boys basketball program. But the Bulldogs’ new head coach is not only experienced in coaching with several area high school sports programs, he’s a Beth-Center graduate as well.
Gary Amos is a 2000 graduate of Beth-Center and has been head boys soccer coach at Bentworth for six seasons, along with serving as an assistant boys basketball coach at Bentworth and Jefferson-Morgan over a combined period of nine years.
Amos was hired to take over the program in September and Niemiec has been helping through the past several months of transition.
“It’s always been a goal of mine to coach basketball here,” Amos said. “I still live in the district and I’m five minutes away from the high school.”
The Bulldogs were 7-14 last season, and 0-12 in Section 4-AA, which includes the likes of Greensburg Central Catholic, Jeannette, Brownsville, California, Charleroi and Frazier.
“Everyone knows that Greensburg Central Catholic and Jeannette are good,” Amos said. “Frazier is good, California has a couple scorers back and I don’t know a lot about Brownsville.”
Greensburg Central won the section title last season with Jeannette finishing as runnerup and Brownville third, with California and Charleroi also going to the playoffs when they finished in a fourth-place deadlock.
The Bulldogs have a core of athletes who are returning with considerable playing experience among a roster of 22 players, of which 14 are either sophomores or freshmen. About 11 or 12 players are expected to make up the varsity roster, while some younger players will see action on the junior varsity level.
Amos said senior guards Mike Knox (5-11) and Nick Hensley (5-9) are joined by four juniors with playing experience: 6-2 forward Freddy Fundy, 5-10 guard Josh Miller, 6-4 center Zack Miller and 6-2 forward Anthony Gilpin.
“The players are excited and working hard in trying to pick up on running plays. It’s a learning process, but we have some athletic kids.
“Hopefully, we’ll do pretty well.”
Amos said he’d like to press on defense and run an up-tempo game on offense with his first six or seven players. “I’m anxious to see how we do in our scrimmages and how the players react under game situations,” Amos said.