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Central hires Frederick to succeed Nevins

The Central High School boys basketball program has enjoyed a long tradition of success over the past three decades, and it is Paul Frederick’s goal to help extend that success.

Frederick, 33, who has spent the last decade as Central’s junior varsity head boys basketball coach and as a varsity assistant basketball coach, was named the school’s new varsity boys basketball coach by a 6-0 vote at a meeting of the Spring Cove School Board Monday night.

Frederick takes over for veteran coach Reggie Nevins, who decided not to re-apply for the position after leading Central to a Blair County-record 452 victories in his 27 seasons on the Scarlet Dragons’ bench.

“The goal will be to just keep the program moving in the right direction,” Frederick said. “We have a lot of great kids in our program from grades 7 to 12. They work real hard. This program has been real successful for a long time, and I’d like to keep things going in that direction.”

Central returns three starters — rising senior and 2018-19 Mountain League All-Star Braden Kitt, as well as juniors-to-be Hunter Klotz and Lleyton Kling — from last year’s 18-6 team that lost to then-undefeated Huntingdon in the District 6 Class 4A championship game.

“We’ve got a chance to be pretty good, for sure,” Frederick said. “One thing that we definitely will have back is height. We have a handful of kids who are 6-(foot)-2 or taller. We have three starters back, and we graduated only two seniors. But (Class) 4A is always tough. Huntingdon, Clearfield and Tyrone will be good again. There will be no easy games in our conference.”

Spring Cove School District superintendent Betsy Baker said that Frederick — who is a seventh-grade social studies teacher in the district’s middle school — was highly recommended for the varsity boys basketball coaching position by Central High School Athletic Director Stacy Kuster.

“Frederick was the current assistant coach, and the athletic director highly recommends him,” Baker said. “He is also a teacher in the middle school and has been very involved with boys basketball over the years.”

Frederick, a 2002 graduate of Central who played varsity basketball, football and baseball during his high school days, has served as a coach in various capacities in the Spring Cove School District. He was an assistant varsity basketball coach for the past seven years under Nevins and three under Bill Forshey prior to that. Frederick has also been a junior varsity head football coach and varsity assistant football coach for the past eight years, and he has spent nine years as a junior high baseball coach.

“I’ve definitely put some time into this,” Frederick said. “I’m a big fan of Central sports. Our athletic programs and the community mean a lot to me. I’ve coached three different sports for over a decade, and I just want to make sure that I do the best job that I can to help our kids be successful.”

Frederick expressed his appreciation for the guidance that he received as both a player and coach under Nevins and Forshey.

“I played for both Coach Forshey and Coach Nevins, and I coached with both of those guys,” Frederick said. “I want to thank them for helping me to get my start in coaching basketball. I’ve just learned so much from both of them as a player and as a coach.”

Frederick and his wife, Erica, are the parents of two sons, Bryce, 3, and Aiden, 1.

(Editor’s note: Mirror news reporter Russ O’Reilly contributed to this story.)

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