Reggie Wells didn’t stay out of coaching for long.
Wells was successful in nine seasons as South Park High School’s girls basketball coach before resigning in April. Wednesday night, he was named girls coach at West Allegheny.
Winning has followed Wells: As South Park’s girls coach, he won two WPIAL titles and one PIAA title and made it to the WPIAL Class AAA title game this past season. He was the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette coach of the year in 2013. Wells was South Park’s boys coach from 1997-2002, and made it to the WPIAL title game twice.
“They have a nice team coming back the next few years, so the cupboard isn’t bare at South Park,” Wells said. “But it was time to move on. I wanted to get more involved with the youth program at South Park, which seemed like a problem. So it was time to move on. I wanted another challenge.”
Wells, 56, will have that at West Allegheny, which has won only one game in two of the past three seasons.
“I hope I can make a difference,” Wells said. “If the kids start believing in themselves, hopefully we can bring something for each other. I’m looking to try and get the program going and on its feet.”
Finals to switch venues
The WPIAL will move its boys and girls basketball championships from Palumbo Center to Petersen Events Center.
The WPIAL Board of Control voted Monday to make the move. Duquesne University increased the rent at Palumbo, so the WPIAL solicited other bids. Pitt, Duquesne and California University of Pennsylvania submitted bids.
Palumbo has been a fixture for the title games. The first championships at the venue were in 1992, but the WPIAL moved all the title games back to Fitzgerald Field House for the next two years. The boys championships returned to Palumbo in 1995 and have been there since, with the exception of two games at Petersen Events Center in 2006.
The WPIAL returned the girls title games to Palumbo in 2000. They have been there since, with the exception of two games at Petersen Events Center in 2006, and in 2002 when the games were at Sewall Center.
Porter to Polk
Obama Academy basketball player D.J. Porter will attend Polk State College, a junior college in Florida.
Porter was a member of the Post-Gazette Fabulous 5 this year and is the second top senior from Western Pennsylvania to choose Polk. The other is Beaver Falls guard Elijah Cottrill.
Polk is coached by Matt Furjanic, former coach at Robert Morris and Marist. Former Beaver Falls star Lance Jeter played at Polk before playing at Nebraska. Sheldon Jeter, another former Beaver Falls standout, took classes at Polk this past year, but did not play. He will play at Pitt next season.
First Published: June 19, 2014, 4:00 a.m.
