Sports

Solon High School Hires New Basketball Coach

New coach is Bob Patten, who was a standout player at Stanford in the early 1990s

Bob Patton, a standout player at Stanford University in the early 1990s and a coach at Westlake High School, is Solon's new high school basketball coach.

He replaces Sean Fisher, after the last season to spend more time with his family.

The school board approved Patton's hiring Monday night. Patton is currently a teacher at Westlake High School, and will remain in that position, school officials said.

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Patton has been a teacher and basketball and golf coach at Westlake High School since 2007. Before that, he coached both sports at Kenston High School, running the basketball program between 2002 and 2007. He was an assistant basketball coach at Dublin Coffman and Mount Pleasant high schools prior to the Kenston job. 

Patton made a name for himself as a standout player on the Stanford basketball teams of the early 1990s. That team won the NIT in 1991 and made an NCAA Tournament run in 1992. 

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“I have been fortunate to have the opportunity to play for and coach with some of the best basketball people in the state of Ohio and throughout the country,” Patton said in a news release. “In both instances as a head coach, I took programs to levels they had previously not reached with a short period of time. My teams have always achieved more than what was expected due to hard work and discipline."

School officials said Patton will lead the program in the right direction.

“We are very excited about the addition of Bobby Patton to our athletic department,” said Solon High School Principal Erin Short. “Bob is a proven winner, who has experience developing programs. I am confident he will help us get to the next level.”

CORRECTION: Bob Patton attended and played basketball at Stanford University. The original version of this article gave the wrong university.


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