By Ed Farrell

Herald Assistant Sports Editor

As a playmaking point guard at Thiel College back in the day, Mark Batt was as intensely combative a competitor as you could find. Now a generation later, he hopes to bring that to the bench as Greenville High’s new boys basketball coach.

“I want to establish an identity for Greenville basketball,” Batt related via telephone Thursday afternoon, a couple hours prior to meeting with his new players and their parents for the initial time.

At a special board meeting earlier this week Batt was named to succeed longtime Trojans’ taskmaster Kelly Jones, who resigned this past spring.

Batt’s “identity” for his Trojans will be 3-fold: “First, we’re going to work unbelievably hard in practice and when we play; second, I hope people who watch us play will see we’re fundamentally sound on offense and defense, and what’s really important,” he emphasized, “is that we conduct ourselves as gentlemen and sportsmen and be great representatives for Greenville School District.”

The 43-year-old Batt is a Buffalo native who matriculated at Thiel from St. Mary’s-Lancaster High. At Thiel — playing for coaches Mike Griffen, (Mercer High legend) Bob “Posey” Rhoads and finally Vince Capuano, Batt was a 4-year starter and 2-time All-Presidents’ Athletic Conference point guard.

Since his 1987 graduation he has gained 18 years cage coaching experience at various levels, including elementary (St. Michael’s), scholastic (Greenville as an assistant to Jones; Reynolds as head coach for 1 season), collegiate (4 years at Thiel, the last 2 assisting men’s coach Tim Loomis, the former Kennedy Catholic High head coach), and AAU (3 years with Custom Corner Sports).

Batt busily has scheduled an ambitious summer for his squad, including open gym through the end of July, a summer league at Slippery Rock, and two team camps.

Greenville, 14-10 in Jones’ last season at the helm, was led in scoring by Batt’s son Jordan, a 6-foot-2 rising junior who averaged 14 points per game, including 18 double-digit outings. However the elder Batt emphasized, “I’m not going to discuss wins and losses” with his new team; rather, he forecasted,

“You can expect mostly man-to-man defense — hopefully we can extend our defense and pressure — and offensively we’ll run motion and hopefully be very sound, take care of the basketball. You know, do all those things that all coaches want their teams to do: Play great defense and take care of the ball.”

Having resided in Greenville since his college career concluded, Batt recently finished his fifth year as a health and phys-ed teacher at Keystone Charter School. His family includes wife Lisa, and in addition to Jordan, children Jessica 21, Alaina 14, Joseph 8 and Amy 5.

“I applied because I live in the school district, and I have 18 years experience coaching at different levels and felt qualified that I could help the kids at Greenville,” Batt related, admitting, “I’m real excited. It’s a good time right now ... in terms of my family here. My kids are young and making their way through the Greenville system, and it’s close to home for me.”