The City of Ravenna has always been like a second home of sorts to Justin Rahim. Rahim will be joining the Portage County ranks of high school coaches, when he was announced as Ravenna’s new boys’ basketball coach on May 13.
“It is not something I thought about. If you had told me I was going to be a coach in Ravenna, I probably wouldn’t believe you, so I am still processing it,” the first-year coach said. “It is just something I am humbled by.”
Rahim takes over for Marlon Jones, who spearheaded the boys’ basketball program for five seasons including winning a Metro Athletic Conference championship during the 2022-23 campaign. Rahim arrives after serving as a head boys’ basketball coach in Youngstown for four seasons, coaching for two years at Heartland Christian as the girls’ head coach and then served as the head boys’ coach at Kennedy Catholic, his alma matter, for two seasons.
Rahim inherits a Raven boys’ basketball program that combined for only nine victories over the past two campaigns after capturing the MAC banner in the 2022-23 season.
“I am looking forward to the challenge,” he said. “I know that it is not going to be easy, and I just hope to be able to come in and lay the foundation for the young men, teach them discipline on the court and off the court. If I am able to lay down principals off of the court, it will lead to being on the court.”
Although he has resided in the Youngstown area, Rahim is no stranger to Ravenna, having had family who lived in the City including his grandfather, Pastor Isaiah Moss, who served at the Pilgrim Rest Baptist Church for 41 years.
“In those 41 years at the Church we were at, he rarely missed a Sunday, he rarely took a vacation,” Rahim noted. “He was a dedicated pastor for 40 years so that is something that I have learned over the course of my life. He instilled that into me at a very young age and his name is still strong in the community up there, so he has a very strong legacy in the City so that is something that I am taking with me
Rahim said that in the first 18 years of his life, every week involved his family traveling from Mahoning County to Ravenna to attend his grandfather’s services.
“Whether it was a Sunday morning service or a Tuesday night bible study or Wednesday or Thursday night for choir rehearsal, that is all I knew,” he added.
Even after Pastor Moss’ retirement from the Church, Rahim still spent time in the City where he had other family living there.
According to Rahim, although he is hitting the ground running as the new boys’ coach, the legacy that his grandfather built in Ravenna has already helped him get acquainted with his new team and the community.
“I think just them knowing him is going to be easier for me because he was well-respected in the City, well-liked in the City,” he acknowledged. “Just being connected to him in that way is going to be a blessing in that regard for myself.”
Rahim attributed his introduction to basketball due to having family members who played and also his own experience with the sport when he began dribbling a basketball at the YMCA as a child.
He was a two-year starter on the varsity team by playing shooting guard at Kennedy Catholic. After graduating, he started coaching AAU basketball and then netted an assistant coaching position for the girls’ basketball program at Youngstown East in 2015.
He earned his first head coaching gig when he arrived at Heartland Christian and since then he has never looked back.
Having spent an equal amount of time coaching both girls and boys’ basketball teams, Rahim has learned to tailor his coaching style to different types of programs.
He added that it will be a new experience at Ravenna, as the Ravens’ program marks the largest high school program that he has ever coached in but is eager to restore the pride of the Ravens’ program.
“I think it is something that my previous experiences have prepared me for because at Ravenna, it is a bigger school with more kids, so this has prepared me for that, so I want to come in and meet the young men and again just make a difference in their lives,” he noted. “I am going in on day one with the three Ps,’Pride, Passion and Purpose’ so I think if we do those things on and off of the court, we should be fine.”
