City of Basketball Love

By Andrew Robinson (@ADRobinson3)
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Ryan Krawczeniuk saw the potential.

Checking in on Aasim “Flash” Burton, one of his players at East Coast Power, during Burton’s senior season at Cardinal O’Hara, Krawczeniuk saw beyond the Lions’ record. He saw an invested school community, one that got behind the girls’ program’s run to a third state title in four years, and had a vision of what could be.

Now that vision is one he will look to bring to life as he takes over at the head of the O’Hara bench.

“I think it’s a sleeping giant over there,” Krawczeniuk said. “A lot of people want to be invested, a lot of people want to see that program be restored. Everything has really come into place on this one and I couldn’t be more excited.”

Krawczeniuk was announced as the new head coach of the O’Hara boys’ basketball program on April 25 and his formal introduction to the team will take place this week. The Wilkes-Barre native brings a solid background in coaching and program development with him

O’Hara was a state playoff team in 2022-23, but finished last season 9-13 overall and 4-10 in the PCL for a 10th place finish. Krawczeniuk replaces Fran O’Hanlon, the longtime Lafayette coach stepping into an unexpected role leading the program after intending to assist Mike Richards, who stepped down last June shortly after taking the job.

As the third person to hold the title of head coach in less than a year, Krawczeniuk aims to bring stability to the position.

“It’s a similar situation to what I stepped into at East Coast Power,” Krawczeniuk said. “That was essentially a total rebuild and a chance for me to really put my stamp on that program. The stars have aligned perfectly here at O’Hara, in some ways it's a similar situation that I’m stepping into but one that I’m comfortable in.”

A standout at Meyers High School in the Wilkes-Barre area where he played for Pat Toole, Krawczeniuk also counts storied coaches Bill Callahan and the late John Bucci as his biggest influences coming up as a player. Playing for Callahan and Bucci in the JB Sports program instilled a majority of the values he brought with him to East Coast Power.

A 2018 graduate of East Stroudsburg, Krawczeniuk also counts Warriors coach Jeff Wilson as a top mentor. A stint as an assistant at Misericordia and a two-year spell assisting at Marywood followed his playing days before Krawczeniuk found his way to King of Prussia and ECP.

“I’ve been surrounded by great people from day one, starting with my father, he was a great coach and still is back home,” Krawczeniuk said. “There’s no way I would be where I am without all of those people. I feel incredibly fortunate to have been surrounded by such great basketball people in my life that I’ve always had a road map on how to be a great coach and how to run a program because I’ve been in it my whole life.”

Krawczeniuk called it a “new day” for the program and his major focus over the next few months will be laying down the groundwork for what it will look like going forward. He does plan to have the team play in the Philly Live event during the June live period and potentially a few one-off team events if it’s a good fit, but for the most part Krawczeniuk expects to use the offseason to lean on internal building.

“The first couple months, for me, are about establishing a culture and bringing in the right people to be around myself and these kids,” Krawczeniuk said. “With Flash being there, I had my eye on the program so I’m very familiar with the returners. There’s a lot of good pieces and a lot of talent there for us to start.”

Krawczeniuk highlighted the accumulation of talent in the southeastern part of the state, adding some of the top players in the country each year come from Philadelphia and the surrounding area. Starting this season, he’ll be up against that talent on a game to game basis in the Philadelphia Catholic League.

A Friday night PCL game usually means a packed gym and that’s the kind of environment Krawczeniuk saw lying dormant at O’Hara. He didn’t see any reason the gym on Sproul Road couldn’t be as difficult as any other in the league for a road team to come into and try and win a game.

“It’s one of the most competitive and high-level basketball leagues you will find in the country,” Krawczeniuk said. “The tradition speaks for itself. You can go down the list of coaches in the PCL and they’ve had great success.

“The competition of this league is something I really look forward to. It’s something that’s in my DNA, that tough competitor and we want to be in those situations in the PCL, what else could you ask for?”

Krawczeniuk also complimented the administration at O’Hara, saying it was evident early on his values aligned in step with the school’s as did their visions for the program. He extended the same to athletic director Chrissie Doogan, also the school’s girls’ basketball coach, calling it a tremendous opportunity to share the same gym as a state championship caliber program.

“I’ve heard from tons of alumni and people who care deeply about that program,” Krawczeniuk said. “That’s something extremely important to this program moving forward, we need to get our alumni excited and the community excited about O’Hara basketball again.

“I saw them get behind the girls’ program on their playoff run, I saw what it could be, they’re just waiting for a reason to come out and support. That’s our goal, to give them a reason to come out.”