Scott Ruthsatz only knew about the rich tradition of the Covington Catholic basketball program through conversation when he first took the job in 2011.
Joining the Colonels fresh off a national title when he was an assistant under Bob Hurley Sr. at St. Anthony in New Jersey, Ruthsatz wanted to come in and create his own team and culture.
He didn’t exactly have to reinvent the wheel but wanted to instill three core values that still hold true to this day.
“It’s the same as it was 12 years ago. Play hard, be tough and always remain disciplined. You do those three things and you can win a lot of games,” Ruthsatz said.
Those three values have helped the level of consistency remain at a high level for the Colonels. Ruthsatz earned his 314th win on Tuesday night, a hard-fought 70-61 victory over St. Henry in which they outscored the Crusaders 24-12 in the fourth.
Ruthsatz passed Dan Tieman, who amassed a 313-146 record in 15 seasons at the helm in Park Hills. Ruthsatz now sits at 314-68 in his 12th season, winning at a clip of 82 percent. The Colonels won state titles in 2014 and ’18, winning 9th Region titles in six of those 11 years with Ruthsatz at the helm.
Ruthsatz now has almost 25 years logged in high school basketball starting things in 1998 with a one-year stop at Heidelberg College in 2006-07.
That’s where he knew he was meant for the high school game.
“That experience was great. I learned great communication skills and it got me out of my comfort zone. It was great to see that level of basketball, even though it was Division III, but that’s when I knew high school is where I belong,” Ruthsatz said.
After a year with his high school alma mater as the head coach at St. Mary’s Central Catholic in Sandusky, Ohio, Ruthsatz then took on the ultimate experience under the wings of Bob Hurley Sr. and nationally known St. Anthony in New Jersey.
It’s an experience where he still takes advice from and another stretch of time where he grew personally.
“That whole experience of moving the family out there for three years was a change that couldn’t have been a better situation. It grew us as a family. Didn’t have any friends out there and basically getting dropped off really helped us family-wise. Basketball-wise you can’t get an any better experience, Coach Hurley still mentors me and talks to me a lot. That experience catapulted me to another level as far as my expectations. He’s (Hurley) had some great players, a lot of guys he had were D-2, low Division I and that took us to the next level. Just finding a way and a lot of it comes down to the three things that I still value with our program now,” Ruthsatz said.
The Colonels are currently off to a 4-0 start and have plenty of tests ahead in the month of December, starting with Bracken County on Saturday in Brooksville for the St. Elizabeth Sports Med. 9/10 Region Challenge.
Ruthsatz likes where his team is at and the mindset early on.
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“It’s a really close-knit team. The last few years with COVID it was hard to get close, couldn’t hang out or go anywhere together. This year guys are close, enjoy each others company and hang out a lot. We’re getting back to where it was pre-COVID,” Ruthsatz said.