Rochester Names New Boys Basketball Coach.

Written Monday June 5th at 11:00 AM

The Rochester Falcons have their new Boys Basketball Coach and they not necessarily had to look within their athletic program to get their new head coach.

The Falcons named Vance Kirkwood whom takes over the program from John Pleasent whom led Rochester to the State Quarterfinal in 2013.

Kirkwood whom took over the program last week also coaches Golf at Rochester. He previously was at Royal Oak for three seasons coaching the Junior Varsity program.

Kirkwood was a player under Gary Fralick at Troy averaging 23 points per game and was tutored by not only Fralick but also Aaron Smith whom coaches Varsity Boys Basketball at Royal Oak. He has gotten  praise surrounding this hire according to Rochester Athletic Director Luke Beach. "Every individual we spoke to in regards of Vance all echoed that you're getting a coach who truly has a passion for kids, and will help guide them to becoming better players and better people" said Beach in the press release.

Kirkwood takes over a Rochester team that has improved year after year since going 0-21 in 2014. They went 9-12 in 2015 and last season finished a very disappointing 11-11, losing in the district final to Stoney Creek. He will have Hunter Schattler, LaMarko Gullridge, and Corey Gullridge back. Also they had a solid Junior Varsity program under Jeff Haney that will be coming up to Varsity.

The Falcons will be in the Blue next season with Orion, Pontiac, Farmington, Harrison, Ferndale, Royal Oak, and Berkley. They will also be in a district with their city rivals Adams, Stoney Creek, along with Utica Eisenhower.

Thoughts.

This is an interesting hire for Rochester for a few reasons. They went inside and out with this hire. Kirkwood coaches Golf at Rochester but his first love was basketball. Kirkwood played for Gary Fralick and was tutored by both Fralick and Smith, so he knows the Troy way of things.

I'm curious to see what direction the Falcons will head. Kirkwood brings a ton of energy and passion when he was at Royal Oak. He had success with the Ravens program but this will be his first Varsity job.

There are other questions like how will the players buy in to Kirkwood's system and especially the experienced players like Schlatter and both Gullridge's. If they buy into the system then Rochester could be a very good Boys Basketball team this season, if they don't then it could be a long season.

It will also be interesting how his staff will be, will Haney be on staff and coach the Junior Varsity, will Lima Pereira be on staff  and coach Freshman, there are a ton of questions surrounding the direction the Falcons are heading.

Stay tuned to OAA Now for the latest on this developing story.