EATON TWP. — Mike Pearl, former girls basketball coach at Berea, has been named girls coach at Midview. His appointment was approved Tuesday by the Midview board of education.
Pearl, a teacher at Ford Middle School in Berea, succeeds Kim Kauffman. After eight seasons, Kauffman resigned in April saying she hoped to start a family in the near future. She is an elementary school teacher in the Midview district.
“He has impressive credentials,” Middies athletic director Bob Maver said of Pearl. “Everyone we contacted talked about his complete dedication and devotion to the kids and his love of the game. He’s the kind of coach who puts the kids’ needs first.”
Maver introduced Pearl to the basketball team Wednesday in the Midview library.
“The first thing is you have to care,” Pearl told the players. “If you don’t care about this program and don’t care about yourself as a player and a person, then what I’m going to do here probably won’t help you much.
“The second thing is we all start off with a blank slate. The way you’ve played in the past, the way things went in the past really don’t matter now. We’re starting over. I want to know about you today and what’s going to happen tomorrow.
“The third thing is participation. We’ve got to be in open gym, we’ve got to be in the weight room and we’ve got to be getting stronger, because everyone else is. If we’re not and somebody else is, when we play them, we’ll lose.”    
Pearl, a 1995 graduate of Baldwin-Wallace College, coached the Braves for two seasons, compiling a 23-20 record. Both teams advanced to the district semifinals. He coached at every level of the Berea program before he was named head coach in 2005.
Pearl, who lives in Elyria and the Midview school district, commutes to Berea. He resigned as varsity coach for family reasons. He and his wife Susan have three young sons.
“That’s what makes this special for me, living in the district, seeing the pride, seeing the community involvement,” Pearl said. “I’m looking for involvement and raising the level of basketball, raising expectations. You raise expectations and meet them, people will come watch your team play basketball.”
A Lorain native, Pearl attended Admiral King before transferring to Lorain Catholic, where he played baseball and was senior captain. He is a 1989 LC graduate. The Pearls’ sons are Benjamin, 8, Jonathan, 5, and Zachary, 3.
The school board also approved hiring Pearl’s assistant, John Justice, who will also teach at Midview. Pearl will continue to teach in Berea.
Kauffman compiled a 94-77 career record in her eight years. In her final victory, the Middies defeated Akron Ellet 52-46 on Feb. 14 in a Medina sectional semifinal. Perhaps the most memorable game in the history of the program took place under Kauffman’s leadership in the 2003 Westlake sectional tournament.
There, before a standing-room-only crowd, the Middies defeated perennial powerhouse Magnificat 62-61 in overtime to advance to a district final for the first time as a Division I school.
Contact Bob Daniels at 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com. 

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