MHS Boys Hoop Coach Picks Up Major Coach Of The Year Hardware

MANCHESTER, CT — Manchester High School boys basketball coach John Reiser last weekend was officially named a 2025 Doc McInerney Coach of the Year last weekend by the Connecticut Sports Media Alliance.

The organization's annual Gold Key Dinner took place on May 17 at the Aquaturf Club in Southington. It had been rescheduled from the fall.

It was the culmination of a transition from a program with a long drought to state champion.

Reiser remembered a March day eight years ago, when he took his team to a game featuring a neighboring team that was on a roll.

"When I took the job ... things had been rough," he said. "I wanted the kids to see what it was like to play meaningful games in a packed gym."

And it happened ... and happened ... and, last season, the climb reached a summit. MHS had a 43-6 record going over its last 49 games and celebrated the 50th with a 77-74 win over New London to take the CIAC Division II title while going 24-2.

It was the first state championship for MHS since 1938.