CINCINNATI — Withrow High School named Steve Gentry Tuesday morning as its boys basketball coach.
Gentry, who stepped down from Purcell Marian after two seasons, is set to return to his alma mater for his second stint as the Withrow head coach. Gentry succeeds former Withrow coach Berdo Allen, who stepped down in late February after coaching the Tigers for five seasons.
Withrow had a 3-18 overall record including 0-10 in the Cincinnati Metro Athletic Conference this past season.
Gentry said he's grateful to return to Withrow where he was an assistant coach off and on from 1994 to 2000 and a head coach from 2000 to 2005. Withrow holds a special place in Gentry's life where he shed "blood, sweat and tears" over time.
"I felt like I needed to go home," Gentry said. "I love teaching the kids."
Gentry said the main goal is to get the student-athletes to advance to a collegiate level while teaching life lessons in the process. He said the Withrow program needs everything in order to be revitalized and he plans to working on building connections within the school soon.
Gentry, who led undefeated Deer Park to the 2018 Division III state championship(29-0 record), is a longtime Greater Cincinnati high school basketball coach. Gentry coached at Purcell Marian the past two seasons.
Purcell Marian named Gentry as the Cavaliers coach in late March 2023. The Cavaliers won 29 games the past two seasons including a 14-11 record in 2024-25 and a Division V regional semifinal appearance.
Gentry, a former Withrow star, played three years at Xavier University under former Musketeers coach Pete Gillen. Gentry, a 1994 Xavier graduate, was a left-handed point guard. He was a three-time team leader in assists at XU and was named the outstanding defensive player.
Gentry later played professionally in China, Holland, Israel, Japan and Poland.
Gentry has also held the boys head coaching positions at Shroder, Lockland, Aiken, and Withrow. He has won numerous district championships and conference titles, too. He also coached the Lockland girls basketball program for three years.
The 2018 state championship was Deer Park’s first state title in boys basketball. Deer Park became the first Ohio Division III boys basketball team to win a state title while being undefeated since 2000 when LeBron James was a freshman at Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary.
Gentry played high school basketball at Withrow for former coach George Jackson. As a senior in 1989, Gentry helped lead the Tigers to the Eastern Metro Conference and city titles.
