Coach Rindfleisch joins us for his third year with the program and first as the Head Coach. He graduated from Lakota East in 2013. He was the starting catcher on the 2011 State Championship team. After Lakota East, he continued his playing career at Ball State University. After his Junior season at Ball State, he was drafted in the 9^th round by the Miami Marlins. He also spent time with the Minnesota Twins and Arizona Diamondbacks. He is excited for the opportunity and the challenge to get Lakota East Baseball to the top of the GMC. “It’s been 13 years, since Lakota East has won the GMC Title. We are looking to change that and continue that tradition for years to come.” He enjoys time with his wife, Alex, and two kids, Casen and Elsie when he is away from the field.

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.

John is a graduate of Hamilton High school and Miami University.  He started his 34-year coaching career in 1985.  He has coached at all levels, including as a Varsity head coach during a 15 year stay at Middletown High School.  

His wife, Lisa is an English teacher at East.  He has three children, Lindsey, Jacob, and Paige plus two grandchildren.  John is in his 31st year as a teacher and is currently working as a Secondary Transition Coordinator at the Union Day Therapeutic school.

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

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 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. 

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 Jock Roeder started coaching at East after the 2023 season.  Prior to that he served as the offensive coordinator, goalkeeping, and draw control coach for the girls’ program at Milford High School.  He has been providing individual and group instruction on all parts of the game for the since 2016, and holds a USA Lacrosse Platinum/Level 3 certification in the women’s game. 

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.

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. 

Stacey Cooke been teaching at Lakota since 1997 when the Freshman School started at the old Lakota High School.

Played high school tennis in California back in the 1980’s and worked briefly at a Tennis Club in Huntington Beach called Seacliff.

Picked Tennis back up in in 2020 when my daughter started playing for Kings Girls Tennis and am A member of Harper’s Tennis Club.

Coached Girls and Boys Lacrosse for several years prior to picking up tennis in 2020.

Lauren is an accomplished volleyball coach with a robust background rooted in Lakota East High School. Having played volleyball for over 10 years and as an alumni of Lakota East’s volleyball team, Lauren brings a wealth of experience to the court. This marks Lauren’s second year in the boys' program. In addition to coaching at the high school, she has spent three years shaping talent in club volleyball. Lauren is excited for the 2024 season, anticipating a time filled with dedication, growth, and shared victories.

Coach Kuhlman is starting his 6th year as the Boys' Volleyball Head Coach at Lakota East High School and his 8th overall as a coach in the program. Kuhlman has also served as the girls’ varsity volleyball assistant coach at Milford High School for 4 years and coached club volleyball at Ohio Premier for 4 years as well. 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. He recently earned his master's in educational administration from Xavier University. Kuhlman is a math teacher at Lakota East High School.