SYCAMORE TOWNSHIP, Ohio — Moeller basketball coach Carl Kremer tied the Ohio High School Athletic Association record for the most state boys’ basketball championships by a head coach at one school.
Kremer tied St. Vincent-St. Mary coach Dru Joyce and the late Middletown coach Paul Walkerwith five titles at their respective schools. The OHSAA hosted the 97th annual state tournament this month.
The OHSAA does not keep state titles by a head boys’ basketball coach as an official statistic but it is unlikely any other individual has five state titles overall.
“I cannot believe there is anyone close,” OHSAA Executive Director Jerry Snodgrass told WCPO Thursday night.
Kremer has won Division I state titles in 1999, 2003, 2007, 2018 and 2019.
Moeller defeated Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary 52-44 in a Division I state final March 23 at the Schottenstein Center in Columbus to give the Crusaders their fifth state basketball title overall including their second straight.
Moeller (29-0) became the first Division I boys’ basketball team since Zanesville (26-0) in 1995 to go undefeated for the entire season. The Crusaders are the first D-I boys’ team to win back-to-back titles since Canton McKinley in 2005 and ’06.
Kremer, who took over the Moeller program in the middle of the 1989-90 season, has a career record of 575-157. His 575 wins are No. 17 all-time on the OHSAA list for most boys’ basketball coaching victories.
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Kremer is always quick to deflect the individual attention for his coaching career and said all the success within the Moeller program is a collective effort each season.
“We have the best assistant coaching staff in America,” Kremer said in a team recognition ceremony Thursday morning.
Walker, a National High School Sports Hall of Famer and Ohio Basketball Hall of Famer, won Class A (large school) state titles in 1947, 1952, 1953 and 1956 and the Class AA (large school) title in 1957 at Middletown. His undefeated ’56 and ’57 teams were led by Jerry Lucas.
Joyce won Division II state titles in 2003 (LeBron James’ senior year), 2009, 2011, 2017 and 2018. This season was SVSM’s first as a Division I program.
SVSM has the state record for the most state boys’ basketball titles (eight). The Fighting Irish won the Class AA (middle of three classes) in 1984 along with Division III state titles in 2000 and 2001.
Moeller (29-0) became the first area large school to win back-to-back OHSAA state boys’ basketball titles since Elder in 1973 and ’74.
Moeller, which has a 49-game winning streak, made its third consecutive state final this season. The Crusaders are 84-4 since the state runner-up season of 2016-17.
“If you do take a step back and you look at the great history of basketball in this state and where these last three years kind of fit in – it’s almost a little bit overwhelming,” Kremer told WCPO this week.
The last time a Southwest District boys' basketball team went undefeated at the large school level was Dayton Chaminade (27-0 in Class AA) in 1970.
Prior to Moeller’s state championship this season, a large-school division boys' basketball team hasn't been undefeated in the Greater Cincinnati area since Hamilton Taft won the Class AA title in 1962 (27-0).
"It was an historic season," Kremer told the school Thursday morning. "Not just for here at Moeller for what we accomplished but really on a statewide level. This team and what you guys were able to do was historic."
