It had been six years since Don Christie got to celebrate the way he did after a Division I district championship at the University of Toledo.

Christie participated in cutting down the net after Central Catholic upset St. John's Jesuit, 63-59, at Savage Arena.

“It was a great feeling and so rewarding,” Christie said. “Our players really followed the game plan we put together as a coaching staff and believed what we wanted them to do. It was rewarding as a coach when you see kids believe in what you're telling them.”

Third-year Central head coach Jim Welling, a 1977 Eastwood graduate, hired Christie as an assistant coach last fall. Christie's last experience of winning a championship came during the 2004-05 season, when he was the head coach at Woodmore and the Wildcats won the Suburban Lakes League title.

That squad, which finished 21-2, advanced to the regional semifinals and Christie was named the D-III coach of the year by the Ohio High School Basketball Coaches Association. Christie also coached at his alma mater, Oak Harbor, for two years and at Lake for one season. He is now an assistant principal at Oak Harbor Middle School.

Christie and Welling have known each other for several years, dating back to when Welling was the men's coach at Owens Community College and Christie was at Woodmore.

“When I came to Oak Harbor, he had taken the Lake job,” Christie said. “My first game coaching at Oak Harbor (in November 2007) was his first game at Lake. I still kid him about that, because we beat him 24-20.”

Christie left as Oak Harbor's coach following the 2008-09 season so he could help his wife, Michelle, take care of their young daughter, Michaela, who was diagnosed with leukemia. Christie said Michaela is now in remission and doing fine.

“Jim always asked me when he first went to Central if I would be interested in coming up,” Christie said. “Last spring he called and said he had an assistant (Leroy King) who was leaving to coach at Lourdes College. He asked if I would be interested in becoming his varsity assistant and I said we were still trying to figure out everything with our daughter.”

Welling told Christie to take the summer to think about it and give him a call.

“He called me back late summer and said, 'Can I bring a few kids out to work with you?' I have a barn at my house where I do shooting camps and stuff. I said, 'yeah, go ahead and do that.' ”

Welling sent three Central players - Drew Lehman, Jay Marquette and Domingo Muniz – to work with Christie over the summer.

“They were really great kids to work with,” Christie said. “I think coach Welling had a plan in place to get my enthusiasm going for (coaching). I started going to some of their conditioning workouts in the fall and got to know some of the kids.

“I know what coach Welling is about as far as his coaching style and his philosophy. We just meshed on the way the game of basketball is supposed to be played. He said, 'What do you want to do?' and I said, 'let's do it.' ”

Christie said his wife gave him her total support to coach at Central Catholic this season.

“We looked at our daughter's health and everything's been going in the right direction,” he said, “so it made things a lot easier to do that.”

Welling, who won two junior college national championships in 20 years at Owens, said Christie seemed like the perfect fit to replace King at Central.

“We had an opening, and Don and I go way back,” Welling said. “I wanted to bring somebody in who had experience and already had a relationship with me. It had to be somebody who fit into what we do, as far as offensive and defensive philosophy. You can't just pick any John Doe to come in here and understand this stuff. Knowing Don's past and what he used to do as a head coach really fit. He fit as a person and he fit into our system.”

Christie's son, Ryan, 11, was gung-ho about Dad getting another coaching gig.

“There was not an option to be had for him,” Christie said. “It was, 'Dad, you're going to be coaching again, right?' He pretty much goes to every practice and has become a part of the team. The guys the other night made sure he got up the ladder and got a piece of the net.”

Central Catholic (18-4) was to face Findlay (21-2) on Thursday night in the regional semifinals at UT. The Irish's last regional tourney berth came in 1999.

Christie said he thought he worked his players hard when he was a head coach, until he started attending Welling's practices. Welling led the Irish to the City League title and a berth in the district finals last season.

“He's an incredible coach,” Christie said. “I thought I put a lot of time in as a coach. He does twice that, as far as his commitment and preparation of getting a team to where it needs to be. I thought I had long, tough practices, but Jim's are longer and harder than I ever had. We'll go three to three and a half hours, and then we watch film. The kids buy into it.

“The other part of it is how much control he has given me. I'm in charge of all the defensive stuff we do. Our defensive philosophies matched up with each other on how we want to play.

Our other assistant coach, Pete Latkovic, does the offensive things and he's been great to work with.”

Welling said Christie has made a “really good transition” into the Central Catholic system.

“The players like him a lot,” Welling said. “He has a good relationship with the kids and he does a good job of bringing his experience and his personality to the table. Replacing Leroy wasn't going to be easy. Leroy was here for two years and it was tough we lost him, but we felt this was the guy who fit the big picture of things.”

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