Elmira Southside Coach John Fesetch named Coach of the Year.

Southside's boys basketball program has enjoyed a resurgence under Fesetch. The Green Hornets have gotten better over each of the four seasons he's been in charge, going from 5-14 in 2005-06 to 8-11 in 2006-07 to 11-10 in 2007-08 to 15-7 this past season.
Fesetch credited his players, and his offensive philosophy allows them more opportunities to be creative. He said one of his mentors, Hall of Fame coach Bob Knight, helped instill that belief.
"It's freelance motion, and it's taken from Coach Knight based on letting kids play. ... The kids love it because it allows them a lot of freedom and allows them to play," Fesetch said. "I try to put kids in roles where they can be successful."

Coach Fesetch has brought excitement back to the Twin Tiers. Not to many times in our the Southern Tier High School basketball history do you see a local team branch out to play powerhouse high school teams as part of their schedule but SHS did just that by playing teams such as Gates-Chile (Rochester), Rochester East, Henninger (Syracuse, NY). Coaches would not sleep all night knowing they would face some of these teams.

My personal opinion is, if your going to be the best, you have to play the best. I think Coach Fesetch's move to play these powerhouse schools not only helped his team win the conference but also made it to the final 4 of the STAC Final Championship game held at Broome County Arena in Binghamton, NY.

Elmira Southside three times this year knocked off NYS ranked teams in Class A, the biggest win and most exciting was the overtime win against 5th ranked Newark at Elmira Southside's Coaches for Cancer Tournement

Congratulations Coach Fesetch on a great year and many more to come