Ray Hamilton is entering his 22^nd season as the Head Coach at Lakota East and his 33^rd overall. Prior to Lakota East he spent 11 seasons at Ross High School. Compiling a 197-75 win total with 5 league championships (91, 94, 95, 96, 98). He received FAVC Coach of the Year awards in 91, 95, 96, and 1998 seasons. He was named Cincinnati Enquirer Coach of the Year in 1998. Ray began his coaching career at Lakota East in 2000. During the 21 years here has compiled a 348-199 record. His 348 wins are the most in Lakota History. During his time here at East, they have won 3 GMC championships (05, 10, 11) and 3 District Championships ( 08, 11, 13). They also, won the 1^st State Championship in school History in 2011. His overall win total the past 32 years is 549-274.  Ray has been married for 35 years to wife Dee and they have 3 children, Celeste, Garrison and Grayson.

Coach Adkins is starting his 8th year as the Boys Basketball Head Coach for Lakota East High School and his 19th overall as member of the basketball program.  He played high school basketball at Wilmington (1994-1998) and collegiately at The College of Mount St. Joseph.  During his seven years as a head coach, Adkins has helped the program to three GMC championships (14-15, 18-19, 19-20), three District Championships ( 15-16, 18-19, 19-20), and one elite eight appearance that was cut short due to Covid.  Adkins is a History/Sociology teacher at Lakota East High School. He is married to Laura Adkins and has three children, Nathan, Luke, and Alexandra.

Coach Dan Wallace is starting his 4th year as the Girls Basketball Head Coach for Lakota East High School.  He is in his 13th season overall as a head coach and  15th year coaching high school basketball. During his thirteen years as a head coach, Coach Wallace has earned 3 Conference Championships (2015, 2017, 2018), seven Sectional Championships (2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2021), and two District Championships (2015, 2017). Coach Wallace has been selected as Coach of the Year 3 times in his conference and District16 Coach of the Year in 2017. Coach Wallace was also privileged enough to have 3 different players get awarded Player of the Year in both Conference (GGCL) and District 16.  Coach Wallace is a physical education teacher in Lakota Local Schools and is in his  17th  year of teaching. He is married to Jody Wallace and has been blessed with two daughters, Rowen and Piper.

This will be Coach Curlis’s 5th year with the bowling team, the second year as the Head Coach. Coach Curlis has 33 years of coaching experience at the J.V. and Varsity level in a variety of sports. He has coached both girls’ and boys’ athletics. Coach Curlis began his Coaching career in 1988 as a Scout and Special Teams Coach in Northwest Ohio. He graduated from the University of Toledo in 1990. Coach Curlis has Taught and coached in several States including Ohio, Missouri, New York, and California.

This will be Coach Curlis’s 4th year with the bowling team, the first year as the Head Coach. Coach Curlis has 32 years of coaching experience at the J.V. and Varsity level in a variety of sports. He has coached both girls’ and boys’ athletics. Coach Curlis began his Coaching career in 1988 as a Scout and Special Teams Coach in Northwest Ohio. He graduated from the University of Toledo in 1990. Coach Curlis has Taught and coached in several States including Ohio, Missouri, New York, and California.

This is Patrick Kreider's eighth season coaching the East Chess Team.   Patrick has taught mathematics at East since the school opened in 1997.  

Coach Thomas is entering his 18^th year of coaching Cross Country and Track and Field.  This will be his 14^th year as the head coach at Lakota East.  He began is running career at Fairfield High School in Fairfield, OH where he placed 3^rd overall in the State Cross Country Championships in 1996.  On the track at Fairfield he was the State Champion in the 1600 meters in 1997 and then State Runner-Up in the 1600 meters in 1998.  Coach Thomas then went on to run 4 varsity seasons in cross country, indoor track, and outdoor track at the University of Iowa, where he was voted team captain his senior year.  He has run three marathons since college, one of which being a 3^rd place finish in the Flying Pig Marathon in 2009.  Coach Thomas continues to compete competitively in road and trail races and is among the top runners for his age group.

Coach Beck has been coaching swimming for over 30 years and brings a wealth of experience to his Lakota athletes. In his 25-year career as the head coach at Lakota East, he has been GMC Coach of the Year 10 times over the course of his career, as well as 2005 District Women's Coach of the Year and 2006 District Men's Coach of the Year. He also won the OHSAA Sportsmanship, Ethics and Integrity Award in 2017. 

Coach Beck's most memorable coaching experience is watching a group of swimmers start to believe in themselves and accomplish the goals they are working towards. The look of excitement on their faces when they accomplish the "time", qualify for the meet, or set a record makes the work worthwhile. 

In his spare time, Coach Dennis is often on the boat, out on the water on a wave runner, or backpacking. 

Coach Rodney Heath starts his 7th season as Head Coach for the Lakota East Boys & Girls Track & Field team. Coach Heath has over twenty (20) years of track and field experience and has produced several athletes who have become individual GMC, District, Regional and State champions. During his career, he has coached multiple athletes who have gone on to compete as student-athletes in college. During his six years with Lakota East, Coach Heath earned the GMC Coach of the Year award twice. He has won one (1) OATCCC girls indoor state championship (2019), four (4) girls team district championships (2017, 2018, 2019, 2021), one (1) girls team regional championship (2019), and one (1) girls team state championship (2019). During the 2019 outdoor season, Coach Heath assembled a girls 4x100m relay team of Dawn Hilton, Kaylyn Heath, Azariyah Bryant, and Serena Clark who went on to break the OHSAA State record across all divisions and are the current state record holders in this relay (45.82).  

 Coach Heath is married to Kimberly. They have three children: Autumn (Purdue University alum), Kaylyn (University of Kentucky) and Rodney Jr. (University of Kentucky). All three of their children graduated from Lakota East and have won individual state champion titles. Autumn is a member of Purdue's current school record-holding women's 4x100m relay team. Kaylyn and Rodney Jr. are currently student-athletes in college. 

Coach Pennix is a graduate of THE Lakota High School.  During his time at Lakota, he was coached by two Ohio Coaches Hall of Fame members, Bob Dalton and Bob Stoll. Bryan was a GMC champion for the Thunderbirds. 

            After high school, Bryan went on to attend Bowling Green State University.  During his four years at BGSU, Coach Pennix played rugby for the Falcons.  The Falcons won the Mid-American Conference all four years.  He met his wife, Amanda, at BGSU.  They will have been married for 28 years this December 17^th.  Their daughter, Elizabeth, is 23 years old and their son, Andy, is 20 years old.

He started his career as an assistant coach at Reading High School for 7 years where he was able to work with another Ohio Coaches Hall of Fame coach, Dick Engel.  The Blue Devils won multiple league and sectional titles and one district title.  They also had multiple state placers and two state champions.

After that, Coach Pennix was the head coach at Blanchester for 13 years before he became the athletic director for the Wildcats.  The hard-working student athletes and their supportive families helped earn many accomplishments.

• 3x SWOWCA Coach of the Year 
• 3x SWOWCA DIII Team of the Year 
• 5x SBAAC Coach of the Year 
• 4x SBAAC conference Champions 
• 2x DIII SW Ohio Sectional Champions 
• 2013 Dual meet Regional Champions
• Dual meet record 162 wins, 67 losses
• 16 state qualifiers, 7 state placers, One 2x state champion
• 65 district qualifiers, 23 district placers, 4 district champion

Coach Combs has been coaching for Golf at EAST for over 25 years.  In this time East Golf has won 10 GMC Titles and gone to State 6 times as a Team. In 2021, East celebrate their first state champion in Joe Wilson IV.  Combs is also the Lead Instructor at the Four Bridges Golf Academy, is Titleist Performance Institute (TPI) level 2 Certified Instructor and Trackman Certified.  In his spare time, Combs caddies professionally—having looped on LPGA for 3 time All-American Kyung Kim, Duke All-American Sandy Chois, and Florida State and current LPGA Player Amanda Doherty. Coach Combs currently coaches and has coached many NCAA D-1 players, and future professionals from the area. He is the President of the Southwest Ohio Golf Coaches Association and is 10 time GMC coach of the year, 3 time SW-Ohio, and Cincy Enquirer Coach of the year.

Taylor Anderson is new to the coaching family as she is starting her first season as Head Golf Coach here at Lakota East. She is a Lakota East Girls Golf alumni herself from the graduating class of 2014. Taylor is an associate within PGA of America and is a full time Instructor at Swing Fit Golf Club. Her passion for growing the game is what drew her to her profession and career as well as the new opportunity as head golf coach. Taylor is eager to get the season underway and help grow the Lakota East girls golf program to be the best it can be.

Mardi Dagley returns as the head coach at Lakota East for the 22nd season. Dagley is a four-time Southwest Ohio District Coach of the Year. She is also the head coach at Lakota West, where she has coached for 8 years. She is also a certified gymnastics judge.

In her high school days Dagley competed in gymnastics for Lakota East.

Coach Burkhardt is starting his 4th year as the Boys Lacrosse Head Coach for Lakota East High School and his 15th overall as a lacrosse coach. During his three years at Lakota East, Coach Burkhardt has guided the program to a 17-19 record, with the 2020 season canceled due to Covid.  Coach Burkhardt is a graduate Fairfield High School and Miami University. He is married to Kimberly Burkhardt and has three children, Tristian, Keira, and Emeline.

Coach Dishun is entering his 6th season with the Lakota East Girls Lacrosse program and his 3rd year as the head coach. Coach Dishun started coaching with the team as a volunteer coach and General Manager when lacrosse was still a club sport. He spent two seasons as the JV Head Coach and the Varsity attack coach before taking over the Head Coach position. 

Coach Hilen is starting his 8^th year as the Boys Soccer Head Coach for Lakota East High School, and his 9^th overall as a head coach. He has been involved in the sport of soccer as a player or coach for the last 34 years, having played for Lakota East (2000 graduate) and collegiately at Mount Vernon Nazarene University (2004 graduate). During his eight years as a head coach, Hilen has earned a GWOC South Conference Championship (2013 with Lebanon High School), two District Championships (2014, 2019), a Regional runner-up (2014), a Regional Championship and a trip to the State Final Four (2019). As a player, Hilen captained the 1999 Lakota East Boys Soccer team to a State Final Four. Hilen is an Intervention Specialist at Lakota East High School. He is married to Stephanie Hilen and has two children, Brady and Aubrey.

Tom enters his 8th season as the head coach at Lakota East High School. Prior to his tenure at East, Coach McEwan spent 10 years as the Bishop Fenwick head coach. 

Coach Haiber enters his 1st year as the Lakota East head coach after winning a conference championship with Miami university last season. This will be his 22nd season coaching Fastpitch softball. In 2020 his Diamond Elite travel team won a National. Kelley is married to Sharon Haiber and they have 3 daughters,  Madisen, Kalayna and Kaitlyn. 

Coach Burchfield is entering his 5th season as the Varsity Boys Tennis Coach for Lakota East High School and his 35th overall, starting his career as an Assistant Coach at Yale Univ. He played college tennis at UCONN and upon graduation continued playing tennis in tournaments around the country. Coach Burchfield's teams at East have finished 3rd in the GMC every year under his tutelage and have had one state and several district qualifiers. 

Coach Strahan has coached Girls Tennis at Lakota East for the past 10 years, 4 of those years as the head coach, creating a positive environment and empowering young female athletes to become the leaders they can be in their sport and in life. 

She was a 3 sport athlete in high school, playing tennis, basketball and softball. She went on to play softball as a walk-on at Ohio University where she earned a BS in Zoology and Medical Technology and met her future husband, Mike. They have been married for 36 years and have two daughters, Kate and Madelyn. Both girls attended Lakota East, playing tennis and soccer respectively.  Kate earned her BS in business, married her high school sweetheart, John Brady, and works for Kroger as a supply chain manager and Madelyn earned her masters in biology and works at the National Marine Mammal Foundation in San Diego as a marine biologist. 

Coach Strahan enjoys  walking with friends, spending time with her 12 year old rescue pup, Roger, and floating in the backyard pool. 

Coach Kuhlman is starting his 4th year as the Boys' Volleyball Head Coach at Lakota East High School and his 6th overall as a coach in the program. Kuhlman is also the girls' volleyball varsity assistant coach at Milford High School and has coached 4 years of club volleyball at Ohio Premier. He is a graduate of Lakota East High School and was a 4-year varsity setter for the boys' volleyball program from 2011-2015. Kuhlman played collegiate club volleyball at Bowling Green State University where he graduated and earned his bachelors in math education. Kuhlman is a math teacher at Lakota East School.

Coach Dreher is a highly energetic, motivational coach who strives for excellence within her athletes. She prides herself in having her athletes reach their fullest potential and designing a team that highlights each of the players strengths. She brings 12+ years of coaching experience to Lakota East with 7 years of them in High School and junior high volleyball. She has 4 years of coaching at Cincinnati Volleyball Academy and Ohio Premier where she led 3 of her teams to the Gold. She envisions the Lakota East program to encompass all ages and levels of volleyball that will lead to a sustainable, highly competitive Division I school district. She is the Training Director at the Lakota Sports Organization for volleyball and volunteers as a coach and an upward basketball coach in her free time. She resides in Liberty Twp. with her husband and 6 children. She enjoys being outdoors, sports of all kinds, and spending quality time with her children. 

Karlie Schell is excited to have the opportunity to join the Lakota East Volleyball Program! Karlie has been coaching volleyball for 6+ years for ages 11-18s at several clubs including Cincy Classics, Elevation, NKYVC, and Cincy Crush at both the regional and national level. She currently coaches the 18 National team at Cincy Classics. In addition to club volleyball, Karlie led the 7th grade Liberty Junior School team to successful seasons for the past 2 years. She is a graduate of Mount St. Joseph University where she obtained a degree in Education and played on the women’s volleyball team. Karlie continues to play both indoor and outdoor competitively. In addition to life as a coach, she is also a teacher.  Karlie has tremendous love for the game of volleyball and enjoys sharing my passion and knowledge with others.