Watterson’s Lombardo achieves milestone as basketball coach

Like most high school coaches, Vince Lombardo would prefer that the story not be about him.

Coaches will tell you that it’s the players who win games and deserve all the credit. They’d rather talk about their guys or girls and deflect any praise a team receives to them, but a milestone is a milestone, and 500 victories ranks as one of those for a high school coach.

Longtime Columbus Bishop Watterson boys basketball coach Vince Lombardo reached that plateau this month in the Division II district tournament.

With a 56-29 victory over London on March 1, Lombardo collected his 500th win as a high school head coach at Watterson and the now-closed Marion Catholic.

“I tried to downplay the whole thing,” the modest Lombardo said. “But it just didn’t work out.”

The Eagles went on to win the district title for the second time in three years, beating River Valley 62-54 on March 4 at Central Crossing High School for Lombardo’s 501st win, before bowing out of the tournament with a 57-45 loss to Dayton Chaminade-Julienne in a regional final on March 9 at Vandalia Butler High School to finish the 2022-23 season with a 17-10 overall record.

In 39 years as a head coach, Lombardo has compiled a 501-413 record while coaching at diocesan Catholic high schools, including 425 victories (71 of those in postseason tournament play) at Watterson, where he serves as dean of men and a health and physical education teacher.

“I’ve not talked about 500 wins because I’ve not won any of them,” Lombardo said. “It’s been the players that have been out there for me. And I also like to remind people I’ve got over 400 losses. So, it’s been a lot of ballgames.”

The 63-year-old Lombardo has spent all but one year of his teaching and coaching career in Catholic schools. The 1978 Columbus St. Charles Preparatory School graduate became the varsity boys basketball coach at Marion Catholic High School in 1984 and in nine seasons there compiled a 76-120 overall record.

In 1993, he left for Bishop Watterson, which he has called home since then. His impact has proved transformative on a program that had experienced limited success before he arrived.

Lombardo has stacked up a long list of accomplishments at Watterson, starting with a Division II state championship in 2013, a return to the state final the following year, nine district and two regional titles, 15 district- and four regional-final appearances and nine Central Catholic League (CCL) championships.

Individual awards speak to the respect that Lombardo receives from his peers. Twice he has won Central District Coach of the Year honors, in 1999 and 2021, and District 10 coach of the year recognition, in 2000 and 2013. In 2021, he was named to the Bishop Watterson Athletics Hall of Fame.

“When I was just starting out as the coach and teacher, I didn’t envision any of this,” he said. “I’ve been very, very fortunate and blessed in terms of the basketball coaching.

“I had some great years at Marian Catholic, not necessarily big-winning years but certainly a great start for me to learn as a teacher and coach, and then very fortunate that Watterson has been a great, great fit for me and a great place for my family. So that’s all worked out very well.”

Lombardo’s family has grown up around Watterson. He and wife Cathy, also a longtime diocesan educator, raised five children who all graduated from Watterson. One of their sons, Jack, is now a member of his father’s coaching staff.

“Something that’s been extremely special is that my family has really embraced the basketball part of our lives,” he said. “My wife has been amazing in terms of her support and willingness to put up with the coaching life. 

“My family and siblings and parents have been great supporters along the way and of the Eagles the last 30 years.”

With the kind of success that Lombardo has achieved as a coach, he said he has been presented opportunities to go elsewhere and most likely make more money, but he and his wife have remained dedicated to Catholic education.

“There have been some occasions where I’ve looked at some other things,” he said. “I think that just the whole Catholic school experience, especially with my kids coming through Catholic schools, has just been very positive for us,” he said. 

“It’s just been a very comfortable place for me – to be able to incorporate the faith component into my teaching and coaching has been important, and I’m thankful that that has worked out as well as it has.

“I think for us as teachers, coaches, parents, hopefully the example that we set is the most important thing, even more so than what we say, to make that part of the whole teaching and coaching experience. Being able to tie all that together and to have it as part of what I’m doing for a career is a great thing.”

Ask assistant coaches, school administrators, players, former players or opposing coaches about Lombardo, and they speak of him with nothing but respect for how he built his program – the old-fashioned way with discipline, hard work and defense. No one would argue that the Reynoldsburg native has maximized the talent available through the years.

“Vince was a great role model for us as high school students,” said Andy Winters, a former player and 2009 Watterson graduate. “He’s a man of faith. He’s a family guy. He was very team-first and willing to do what was needed, whether that was as a coach or a role model or a friend at times.

“He’s such a good man that when he coaches you there was a trust that he was always going to do what’s right for you. He showed us how to be a good man and father, and those were important things that we picked up on probably not knowing at the time that they were great life lessons.”

Winters used that example when he embarked on a college playing and coaching career. He earned All-American honors as a point guard at Ohio Wesleyan University and then move into the coaching ranks with stops at Ohio Dominican and Capital universities before landing the men’s basketball head coaching job in 2019 at Division III Otterbein University, where his brother, Matt, is on his staff as an assistant.

“The biggest thing I took away from Vince was he always seemed to get the most out of his players because they’re willing to learn, listen and be coached,” Andy Winters said. “They’re extremely selfless and do whatever is needed for the team. He has an uncanny ability to find ways to win with teams that have great kids but probably aren’t as talented as other teams.”

Winters played on a team in 2009, his senior year, that won a district title before falling in the regional and denying Lombardo his first trip to the state final four, which he reached four years later in 2013 with a Division II championship.

“I know now as a coach how hard it is to win,” Winters said. “So, I even have more respect for what he’s doing.”

Lombardo has coached long enough that he has difficulty singling out memorable players and seasons. 

In addition to his teams that made back-to-back appearances in the state championship game, he recalled his third season, in 1995-96, when, he said, “Some of the things that we were trying to put in place in our program really started to come together.” Watterson finished with a 19-5 overall record that season, winning a CCL title and reaching a district final.

He also pointed to the 2011-12 season, his son’s senior year as a player for the Eagles, that preceded the state championship year.

“There have been a number of teams I have had great young men play for me,” Lombardo said. “The talent level has been varied, but we’ve always had some great guys to work with.”

That includes this year’s team, which won nine of its last 12 games with an experienced group of seven seniors that included several players (Pete Mangold, Cole Rhett, Owen Samenuk, Seven Scott) who played on a district championship team in 2021 as sophomores.

“Since we got off to a slow start, we played pretty good, consistent basketball,” he said. “Our league was very good this year, and our non-league schedule was very challenging.”

After a little time to regroup, Lombardo will move forward toward another season. At least for now, he has no thoughts of stepping away from the bench.

“I’d like to keep going as long as I’m capable and as long as I’m healthy enough to do it,” he said, “and as long as I feel like I’m still really making a contribution to the young men that I’m working with.”