According to Crestwood Red Devils boys’ basketball Coach Josh Jakacki, he has had a basketball in his hands every day since he was in fifth grade. After setting several milestones while playing at Crestwood, Jakacki has continued his success as a coach by reaching his 300th career coaching victory this past season.
“It means a lot to be able to do some special things at Crestwood and obviously being an alumni, having this place be home and having my kids and my wife and all of us share in such things makes this special along the way,” the 14th-year coach said.
The Red Devils’ alumnus recorded his 300th career coaching victory when Crestwood defeated Portage County rival Southeast on Jan. 30. In 22 years as a head coach, Jakacki has only coached at two different schools.
He began his coaching career when he was first named the head coach at Crestwood in 2000 and spent six years at the helm before stepping down to become a varsity assistant coach at Kenston.
Jakacki coached the Bombers for eight years before returning to his alma mater in the 2015-16 campaign. In eight years with Kenston, Jakacki recorded 133 wins and achieved 167 victories across two stints with the Red Devils.
Jakacki said he fell in love with basketball because of the NBA’s all-time great Michael Jordan. His father and Uncle each played high school basketball and Jakacki said basketball became a big part of his routine each day during his childhood.
“The ball was my best friend and was something I always had with me whether we were on vacation in Florida and my parents and everyone knew that I had to get a workout in at some point through the course of the day,” he noted.
Jakacki was a four-year starter at Crestwood during his playing days and set several individual records, most of which have now been broken by players he coached.
After graduating from Crestwood, he attended Malone University and spent one year there before transferring to Hiram College to finish out his collegiate playing career.
While he was nearing the end of his playing days, Jakacki started assisting then-Crestwood Coach Paul Woodard. After he graduated from Hiram College, he said he had a chance to go overseas to pursue an international career but opted to stay home and begin his coaching and teaching career.
Jakacki was named the head freshmen coach and varsity assistant in 1997 and in only three seasons, he advanced to become the head boys’ basketball coach.
He acknowledged that he had a lot to learn when he first became the head coach, focusing too heavily on the wins and losses.
“I don’t necessarily pay too much attention to the wins and losses now but more or less make sure kids are being taught the right things on and off of the court,” he added.
He spent six years coaching the Red Devils before he stepped down to coach and work at Kenston as a varsity assistant and as a fourth-grade teacher.
Jakacki only spent one year as a varsity assistant before being named the Bombers’ head coach and spent eight years there, leading Kenston to winning six conference titles before he returned home.
He said his family was the biggest reason he resigned from Kenston to return to the Red Devils’ program.
“I was gone pretty regularly through my coaching tenure at Kenston and it just became a family decision,” he said. “It was very difficult to leave Kenston at that time. We had a lot of success and we had a great group that we had coming back. I felt really confident they were going to continue their winning ways but I made the ultimate decision that my family came first.”
Jakacki returned to a Crestwood program that had only recorded four victories in the previous season, but the team improved to 14 victories in his first year back.
He added what made his return even sweeter was getting to coach his two sons, Mason and Trent, in his second stint as the Crestwood coach.
“I have been blessed enough to coach my own kids and have my wife be a part of this along the way and having her constant support because it is a sacrifice,” he said. “It is a sacrifice for everyone. It just does not happen organically. Everyone has to be all-in and fortunately I have kids who have bought into that knowing their dad is a coach and is going to be gone at times, but knowing it comes with that with late nights and a lot of phone calls.
In addition to Jakacki reaching his 300th coaching victory this past year, the Red Devils posted a 19-4 record and captured their first Chagrin Valley Conference Valley Division title since joining the conference in 2020.
“When you coach for 22 years you are going to hit certain milestones along the way and I have been blessed that I have been able to go out on my own terms at three stops and have had a wonderful coaching staff,” he said.
