City of Basketball Love

Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue)
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Sometimes Nick Horvath has to remember, he’s not in college any more. 

Horvath is long removed from his days as a student at Temple University, but the 42-year-old spent the last seven years on the sidelines at the collegiate level.

He made his return to the high school level for the first time in more than a decade when he was named the Strath Haven boys coach back in June.

“Every now and then there’s a college rule that’s in there where you turn to the official and they’re like, ‘This isn’t college coach,’ especially when you know some of the officials and they know you’ve switched around,” Horvath said in September.

“Sometimes the intensity of how the bench works and how to talk to kids. You gotta realize it’s high school, you’re teaching, and sometimes you get caught up in the moment. Definitely some tweaks and stuff.”

Horvath has been a teacher for 20 years and is going into his 14th year at Methacton High School. His first head coaching job at the high school level came a few years after he graduated from Temple when he was the head boys coach at Samuel Fels in 2006-07. He was an assistant for the Daniel Boone girls team from 2007-09.

“It’s awesome and it’s definitely a great group of kids who want to learn,” Horvath said of his first few months at Strath Haven. “Talent will help, but the willingness of the kids to learn is awesome.”

Horvath jumped back into coaching as an assistant for the Bryn Mawr women’s basketball team in 2016-17 and then coached as an assistant at Gwynedd Mercy for four seasons from 2018-2022. Former Wissahickon and Gwynedd standout Shane Ford will be one of his assistants this season.

He also coached with the East Coast Power AAU program from 2018-22, including the likes of Konrad Kiszka (Princeton/NYU), John Bol Ajak (Syracuse), Sean Yoder (Pennridge) and David Duda (East Stroudsburg) on his first team. 

Horvath spent last season as an assistant at Eastern under Dan Pruessner, helping the team to an 18-9 finish.

“Eastern had an amazing, amazing coaching staff, amazing AD, amazing kids,” Horvath said. “I’m 42, so I’ve been in college for basically my 30s and I just got to a point where it was family a little bit — My daughter’s 8. She’s never seen me not coach — but also as you see college players and you’re out recruiting, it’s just the little things. 

“You see kids and the footwork, the ball skills and how to set a ball screen. I wanted to get back into the teaching aspect a little bit more, which is what I do for a living. I just kind of wanted to get back into that and be home a little bit more, not travel so much.”

Horvath said when he got the job about a week after the school year ended he watched some film of last season’s Strath Haven team that went 9-13. The Panthers graduated a good chunk of the rotation from that group, including Jaden Jauregui (Union College) and Jack Edwards (Juniata), who are both playing at the next level.

Strath Haven hasn’t had a winning record during the last three seasons but the program has some history of sending guys to the next level and isn’t too far removed from a state playoff trip in 2020.

“The school has a history of solid basketball,” Horvath said. “They’ve had a great core group of kids plus all the other role players that they’ve had. This year, we’re a little bit younger. We have three seniors, two juniors and a lot of sophomores who are coming out on a regular basis.”

Junior 6-3 forward Jah Curtis, also a tight end and defensive end on the football team, is one of the most experienced returners along with senior 6-3 forward Blayke Reid, senior 6-1 guard Liam Szybist and speedy senior 5-11 guard Danny McLaughlin, who is also a standout on the track team.

Sophomore Theo Jerugi can really shoot the ball and junior Jacob Wenke is a strong ball handler at the point guard spot. 

The Central League is probably the most wide open its been in recent memory with a lot of unknowns around the league. The inexperienced Panthers think they have a chance to make some noise.

“There’s a lot of good stuff ahead,” Horvath said. “It’s very cliche, but we just gotta trust the process, let it grow a little bit and I think we’re going to be really competitive this year in the Central League.”

“When you look three months ago, three months from where we started, it’s been really good growth. We still got two more months before we start getting into it for real, so we have plenty of time to grow.”