2024 Crestwood graduate Charlie Schweickert has always believed he has the voice to become a play-by-play television sports announcer, but he is also now finding his voice as a basketball coach, returning to his alma matter to serve as the Red Devil boys’ varsity assistant and freshmen head coach.
“I am so incredibly grateful,” Schweickert told The Villager last Friday. “I think about that every day with how blessed I am and how amazing of an opportunity it is for me, and I just want to do whatever I can to make the most of that opportunity and coach these guys and teach these guys.”
The Crestwood alum who is the new record holder for most 3-point shots made in a varsity career is now making an impact from the sideline, when he was selected by Coach Andrew Mertz to become a varsity assistant and later was offered the role the freshmen head coach.
According to Schweickert, he thought he had left basketball behind once he returned home to continue his studies to become a sports broadcaster at the Ohio Media Center in Valley View, but he received a call from the first-year coach, who was taking over the program after Josh Jakacki stepped down to return to Kenston as the boys’ basketball coach.
“I was at home working and didn’t foresee anything changing, then he reached out to me and said, ‘I heard you were home, and I would love to have you on the staff,’” noted Schweickert.
After agreeing to serve on Mertz’s staff as a varsity assistant, Schweickert took on more responsibility two weeks before the varsity season tipped off, when the Crestwood coaching staff learned they had enough numbers in the program to field a freshmen team and he accepted Mertz’s offer to also coach the freshmen squad in addition to serving as his varsity assistant.
He takes on a pivotal role in the Red Devils’ program, which is in a similar place to where it was during his freshman and sophomore years when the varsity team experienced a rebuild and the program needed to prioritize the development of underclassmen.
Although it is his first time serving as a head coach, Schweickert said that he understands the importance of his role.
“I try not to put too much pressure on myself in games,” he added. “I try to realize that the freshman games are more about developing and not about winning or losing. I try to use every moment of the game and every play that happens as a teaching point and okay how can I teach these guys and how can I coach these guys?”
After hanging up his laces after his freshman year at Bethany College, Schweickert said that he thought he was finished with basketball returning home to pursue an accelerated study program in sports broadcasting at the Ohio Media Center. Although Bethany offered the same courses at the Ohio Media Center, Schweickert wanted to prioritize his studies solely in sports broadcasting and not worry about taking unrelated courses.
He said that the hardest part about his decision was the fact he was ending his playing career a few years earlier than he had planned.
“Absolutely I wish there was a way I could still be playing and doing this path career-wise,” he noted. “I went and visited there, and they showed me around and showed me a bunch of stuff that they have to offer and all of these alumni that I know. It just felt like they had everything that I needed, and I wanted. “
He is currently studying in an eight-month course that will allow him to enter the workforce immediately after graduating in April, with the hopes of securing an internship in the sports broadcasting industry.
Although Schweickert’s playing career has ended, he still remains as close to basketball as ever as he is now making an impact on the sideline and coaching some of the same players he competed with when they were underclassmen during his junior and senior years. He also is serving as an essential right-hand to Mertz.
Schweickert described his role as a varsity assistant as being multi-faceted.
“I would say also being a positive ball of energy almost or encouraging guys when they get down, picking guys up when they are coming to the bench and are taken out for making a mistake, all of those kinds of roles are something that I try to accomplish,” he said.
While it remains unclear where Schweickert’s path will lead him in the sports broadcasting industry, he sees this season as just the beginning of what he hopes will be a long high school basketball coaching career, especially with his alma matter.
