Garrett Pannier to lead Central girls program

Garrett Pannier recently took the reins of the Central girls basketball program, filling the head coach position that had been held by Sheri Shirrell the past 10 seasons.

Pannier, who coached the Central JV last season and filled in for a brief time on the varsity level for Shirrell during the regular season, will take over a program that has had three consecutive losing seasons.

The Tigers compiled a 9-18 record last season, including a season-ending 66-30 loss to Dexter in the Class 4 District tournament semifinals. Central has gone 26-53 since posting a 14-10 record in the 2011-12 season.

It will be the first head coaching job for Pannier, a 2008 graduate of Central who played two seasons under current boys coach Drew Church. He's been the JV coach at Central the last four years after serving one year as freshman coach.

"I'm definitely looking forward to it, especially with all the kids that I've been around for the last several years, and we've got some good things going," Pannier said. "We've got some younger kids that are ready to go, and we're excited about it. Especially the last couple of weeks, we've had a couple of shootouts and the kids have played well. We're excited about where we're headed this season."

Central graduated two starters in leading scorer Maddie Daum and Abby Shupert, but will return numerous players with experience, including point guard Sydney Tollison, who will be a junior.

"I've got two or three seniors, three or four juniors, and a lot of younger kids will get significant varsity time," Pannier said. "They all like each other, they get along real well and then they mesh well and play pretty good basketball most of the time."

He sees the Tigers foresees plenty of pressing and quick shots on offense.

"It'll be a lot more running and gunning style," Pannier said. "It'll be faster paced than it's been, not a lot, but definitely you'll be able to tell a difference."

Brian Little, a newcomer to Central, will serve as the JV coach and assistant varsity coach.

Herman to take over at Meadow Heights

At Meadow Heights, boys assistant basketball coach Nick Herman has taken over the head coach duties after the departure of Mark Verticchio, who led the Panthers the last two seasons.

Herman has been at the school the last two years and assisted Verticchio in leading Meadow Heights to its first winning record -- 17-9 -- in five seasons during the 2014-15 campaign. Herman was the assistant girls coach his first year at Meadow Heights before taking over the JV boys team last season. He also coached varsity baseball last season.

Herman will be the third boys basketball coach in five seasons for the Panthers after the 10-year tenure of Tom Brown.