Crestwood High School science teacher Jason Wills has largely stayed in the background for the Red Devils’ athletics programs. He now takes the stage front and center, having been selected as the new Crestwood girls’ basketball coach on May 14.
“Initially when all of this went down, I had some of the players approach me and ask me if I was interested in doing it so to have them actively talk to me about it and then have the Board of Education also approving of that makes me feel good and gives me confidence in myself,” Wills told The Weekly Villager on June 11.
The first-year coach takes the helm replacing of T.J. Henderson, who announced he would not be returning as the girls’ basketball coach after five years in a social media post on X on May 2, as previously reported by The Villager.
In Wills’ 17 years of working as a teacher in the Crestwood School District, the highest level he has coached has been the freshmen boys’ basketball team, which lasted for four years, while also holding the title of strength & conditioning coach throughout the district.
According to Wills, he had taken a step back from coaching when his children had entered high school in the Kent school district but after his youngest graduated from Kent Roosevelt High School, he was ready to try his hand again at coaching.
He said that he initially was seeking a coaching position at the middle school level but when he received interest in inheriting the girls’ basketball coaching position from the students it spurred him to apply.
Although Wills is entering his first year of being a head coach of a high school varsity program, he is far from an unfamiliar face given that he has taught most of the Crestwood players in his classroom or worked with them in the weight room.
Wills acknowledged that he has big shoes to fill, taking over for Henderson, but credited his predecessor for having already laid a strong foundation for success.
“Fundamentally, these girls are really good,” he added. “The senior group is phenomenal just in terms of being great people and that is the biggest thing that I will say about these kids is that they are just great people, they want to come and they work, they are polite, they support each other and to have a group like that that has been coached really well is definitely going to ease my transition into it.”
Being the head coach may be a new experience for Wills, but he said that he embraces the pressure of new challenges.
“I am very excited for the opportunity,” he noted.” I feel like it is a good time in my life to step into this role and I feel like that I have a lot to offer to this program.”
Wills takes over a Red Devils’ program that enters its final year of being members of the Chagrin Valley Conference Valley Division, as after the 2026-27 season, Crestwood will leave the CVC to join the new Greater Portage Athletic Conference, which will consist of seven Portage County schools and one neighboring school in Akron Springfield,
Wills said that he plans on having the Red Devils staying competitive in the CVC Valley Division in their final year in the league but is also excited to reignite some old Portage County rivalries when Crestwood joins the GPAC, as he has fond memories of Portage County duels during his basketball playing days at Kent Roosevelt.
“I love the fact that the Chagrin Valley Conference has been good to us, but I am excited for the Portage County League, that is where I grew up,” he said. “It was the old Metro Division, and we played a couple of other schools like Barberton and whatnot, but I love the local competition.”
The 1995 Kent Roosevelt graduate initially worked as an exercise physiologist and personal trainer for 10 years after graduating from Youngstown State University but returned to school, earning a Master of Arts Teaching Degree at Kent State University.
His first teaching job brought him to the Crestwood School District, where he has remained for 17 years.
Although it is a first for Wills to become a head high school basketball coach, he has never been afraid of new things in his life even as he has gotten older.
“Everyone is capable of doing whatever they want if they change up mid-way and they want to change their goals, it is all feasible,” he noted. “If you put your mind to it and are able to put the work in and get some help and support from your people, your family and your friends, anything is possible.”
