WASHINGTON COURT HOUSE — There was some consternation when the Washington Blue Lions parted with girls basketball coach, Samantha Bihl.

Then, after a possible nominee’s name was withdrawn from consideration, that left supporters of the girls basketball program wondering who might be the next candidate.

It’s a name from the recent past, as well as from a more distant era.

John Denen is returning for a second time to where his heart has no doubt always been: Washington High School.

Denen was one of the coaches approved by the Washington Court House City Schools Board of Education by a 5-0 Monday, June 12, 2023.

The Record-Herald sat down with Coach Denen after an open gym session Thursday afternoon, June 15.

“I greatly appreciate that,” Denen said of the board’s unanimous backing.

Denen coached the Lady Lions beginning in 1988. He left and went on to other coaching positions, of which there are several.

Denen returned to coach the Lady Lions in 2009.

Along the way, Denen departed again from Washington and continued in the field of education and the discipline of coaching.

One of the tasks in his career was putting in place a football program at Manchester High School in Adams County.

And now it’s 2023 and Denen is back at his alma mater to coach yet another generation of young people.

It’s the vocation that’s filled Denen’s adult life — coaching, mentoring young people.

Denen is ready to share his knowledge and love of basketball to a new generation of Lady Lions.

At one point, Denen joked, “We believe in recycling.”

Denen quickly recalled from his previous tenure that it was Anna Frazier who scored the first basket in the current high school gym, in 2009.

“We’re allowed to give 10 to 15 days of instruction, so we gave some instruction today,” Denen said. “It’s pretty simple. We’ve gotten such a late start…this is the third time I’ve been together with them.

“They’re Washington Court House kids,” Denen said. “They are great kids. I can see that right away. We have to get the focus back on the kids.

“The kids want to be in the gym,” Denen said. “The kids want to have some fun and learn some basketball. If we have fun and play hard, we’ll be alright, basketball-wise.”

As for the schedule for this summer, Denen said he’s looking at his team participating in at least one shootout.

In the gym Thursday on the Washington campus were several high school players and several who will be in middle schools (grades 6-8) this fall.

Washington has three more open gyms scheduled: June 19, 7:45 – 9 a.m.; Thursday, June 22, 2 – 3:30 p.m. and Monday, June 25, 7:45 – 9 a.m.

“The kids were in (for open gym) a few times before I was hired,” Denen said. Open gyms have been held each Thursday and Monday since June 1.

“I think it’s important for me as a varsity coach to get a look at the kids,” Denen said. “I want to formulate a vision of, ‘yeah, I think we can do this; I think we do that with the group.’

“It’ll be important in late October, when we really start to implement that plan,” Denen said.

Denen wasn’t sugar-coating the road set before him and the Lady Lions.

“It’s going to be tough in the beginning,” Denen said. “I kind of compare it to when I coached boys basketball here. The football team was very successful, so we got a late start.

“So, I have some experience with that at a couple of places,” Denen said. “It’s important that we reach out to the kids and let them know they are welcome.”

With it being extremely early in the process, Denen said, “I’m pleased with our numbers. They continue to grow. We’re around 15 high school kids. I think there are a few more out there. We have one who is injured.”

Denen said that he will be accepting substitute teaching assignments in the upcoming school year. In that way he can be a presence on campus during the day.

“We’ll walk the hallways, you know,” Denen said. “I’m going to do some substitute work. Every school district needs subs right now. When basketball season gets here, I’ll be here a lot more. We’ll make this work.

“”I’ve always enjoyed that, from day one, teaching school,” Denen said.

“We need to get kids in the gym,” Denen said. “I told the kids that back in 1988, the first open gym I ever had, only one girl showed up. Her name was Mindy Puckett. We worked on some things. I told her, ‘you bring two more people with you and I’ll see if I can find three more.’ We got some kids interested and we made a lot of progress.

“Coming back in 2009, our numbers were down,” Denen said. “Three years later we were playing a freshman schedule. We had 25 kids, something like that.

“I think it’s going to be a little more difficult now, because we have so many more sports going on,” Denen said. “The kids have a lot more opportunities and that’s a good thing.

“We want to grow the program,” Denen said. “When we grew the program those other times, the kids worked hard. And the kids were loved.

“I haven’t told this group yet, but I always tell them that on the basketball court and in the locker room, I’m going to treat them like athletes,” Denen said. “When they step off those two areas, they are like my daughters; they’re like family. I think that still works today.

“People in this community know that I’ve always taken care of the kids,” Denen said. “Whether it was in the classroom or in basketball. I’m still committed to that today. The people who have reached out to me already have been very, very positive.

“I got a text from my daughter, ‘oh my gosh, dad, you are loved,’” Denen said. “I feel the love. I do. That’s one of the reasons (for taking the job). This place built me. It’s Washington City Schools and the town of Washington Court House. When little Johnny Denen got out of line, people put me back in line.

“This town built me and no matter where my life took me in my journeys, I was from Washington Court House, Ohio,” Denen said.

Denen and his wife, Jacqui, live in Delaware, but are looking for a residence here in town, Denen said. The Denen’s will soon celebrate their 41st wedding anniversary.

Denen was most recently the head girls basketball coach at Logan Elm High School in the 2020-21 season.

“I love building basketball programs,” Denen said. “Every place I’ve been, we’ve had some great teams. I love getting kids excited about playing basketball. I like to play eight to 10 players, rotate them in and out and keep them fresh.

“It’s about kids,” Denen said. “I was never shy about tough situations. It’s about kids. Basketball-wise, having those great players is great. Most high school basketball teams don’t have a Hannah Haithcock or a Valerie King. They don’t have a Christy Lorente or an Angie Gray.

“Every kid has value in my basketball program,” Denen said. “They have a role and they have value. If I was teaching math and I had a great math student, I would expect that math student to do more than the weakest math student. But both kids have value. Every kid has value. We’re going to talk to the kids about that a lot.”

John and Jacqui Denen have two adult children, Johnson and Jessica and four grandchildren.