Westwood Middle’s basketball coach, Wayne Kiger, to retire

The Dominion Post
MORGANTOWN — Over his 52 years of coaching Wayne Kiger based his coaching philosophy on three key goals: Mentoring each individual as a person, student and athlete.
“I tried to maintain those three things over the years,” he said.
Now, the final buzzer has sounded and Kiger, Westwood Middle School’s basketball coach is retiring.
“It’s just time,” he said. “There’s no negative factors.”
His coaching career started at Riverside Junior High School, formerly in Granville, where he created a fourth-grade team to compete in a tournament — which it won. That success led to the creation of the school’s first all-girl basketball team, which also won a championship, Kiger said.
He also spent 17 years at Waynesburg (Pa.) High School, before spending the last 22 years coaching at Westwood. Kiger’s son, daughter, two nephews, a niece and a couple of godsons were just a few of the many students he coached.
“He always put them [the kids] first in everything he did,” Westwood Principal John Conrad said.
Conrad praised Kiger’s coaching skills and said he possessed an incredible knowledge of the game and was great at developing players and getting them to produce.
Things learned on the hardwood such as responsibility, work ethic and accountability translate to other parts of life, Kiger said.
“I told them they represent themselves, their school, their families and their team,” he said.
Kiger said the most rewarding part of coaching was watching his players develop and become more mature individuals.
“It’s neat when they contact you later on,” he said. “As they get older, into adults, they appreciate more what you tried to do.”
He said many students over the years have contacted him later in life.
Two of Kiger’s favorite memories over his career both involve local people, he said.
“The first one was a loss,” he said. “It was the seventh-grade championship and there was a young man named Jedd Gyorko that is a very famous athlete here in town.”
Kiger explained that Gyorko, a sixth grader, made three of four foul shots to beat his team in overtime.
“That was a real disappointing loss to me,” he said. “I wasn’t too happy a sixth grader beat us.”
Gyorko is now a Major League baseball player.
He said his highpoint, the only eighth-grade championship that Westwood won under him, was beating Nathan Adrian while he played for South Middle.
Adrian went on to be a top basketball player for WVU.
Overall, Kiger finished his Westwood tenure with five championships and 12 second-place finishes. He estimated he has between 700-800 career victories.
In retirement, Kiger said he plans to spend time with his grandkids and will work in his church.
He expects there to be a period of adjustment, just like when he retired from teaching 11 years ago.
He said he appreciates all the people involved through the years and expressed thanks to his players, family, friends, administrators and assistant coaches.
“And God for the health to do this for so long,” he smiled.