May 16, 2018

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. --- Before his resignation last week, Josh Buffington had one final wish.

Perhaps he found the right bottle and the right Genie ... but probably not.

In any event, Buffington's wish has been granted --- Joe Rothweiler, the top assistant for Buffington the last 10 years --- was named the new head basketball coach of the Helias Crusaders on Thursday.

"I've been here for 10 years coaching under Josh, and now moving over that one seat brings a lot of excitement," Rothweiler said. "I'm looking forward to getting things rolling, quickly, into the summer and then on into the season.

"I love everything about Helias. I was a Catholic growing up, but I kind of grew away from it. But I came back when we came here ... the people are great, the kids are great."

Buffington's face and voice bubbled with excitement.

"This has given me even more closure with my decision, because now I know they can keep it going and maybe even take it to another level," said Buffington, who won 195 games in 10 years at Helias, with seven district championships and three trips to the Final Four.

"That will be very special to me, coach Joe and Helias. To see a guy who deserves it, who's earned it, to get his chance to put his own twist on it, it's great. In my mind, there was no other choice."

In other words, a no-brainer.

"I think it was a situation where we've been very successful the past 10 years," Buffington said, "and when you have the answer right underneath your nose, it's time to move forward.

"It shows the great relationship I had with Helias, that Joe had with Helias, and the respect they have for our program."

Rothweiler, 35, grew up in Hannibal and was a basketball standout for the Pirates, as the 6-4 All-Stater led the school to its first Final Four in 2001. His relationship with Buffington goes back even farther, as Buffington also grew up in Hannibal.

"I've known Josh since I was 8 or 9, through church and neighborhood basketball games," Rothweiler said. "He was older than me (Buffington is now 41), but we still hung out a little bit."

The Buffington family moved to New Bloomfield for Josh's high school years, but he returned to Hannibal to play at Hannibal-LaGrange and the friendship was rekindled.

After graduating high school, Rothweiler walked on at St. Louis University and made the team, and head coach Lorenzo Romar asked him to come back as a "preferred" walk-on the next year. But Romar left SLU for Washington, and that's when Rothweiler was contacted by Buffington.

Buffington was the head assistant at Missouri Baptist at the time, and he lured Rothweiler to the school. "He had three great years for us," Buffington said.

When Buffington came to Helias in 2008, Rothweiler came on board as the head assistant coach --- even though he had never coached before.

"Joe was the first phone call I made," Buffington said. "At the time, he was working in St. Louis (as a recruiter of doctors) and I said,'What are you doing? You've got to be in the game of basketball!'

"I said: 'Take a leap of faith, come to Jeff City, I want you to be my head assistant.' He jumped on it and the rest is history."

Unlike this hire, however, Rothweiler coming to Helias was not a slam dunk.

"When Josh called me," Rothweiler said, "I really didn't have much of a desire to go into coaching. But then --- and it must have been a sign from God, I'm not sure --- it just felt right. So we made the jump."

Rothweiler's wife, Lindsay, found a job in Jefferson City at the same time. They currently have two children, Jaden, 11, and Keegan, 5.

In his 10 years under Buffington, Rothweiler --- who's the AD and PE director at St. Joseph --- has apparently learned his lessons well. What did he learn?

"Everything, pretty much," he said. "Josh was a great mentor to me, I learned a ton. I imagine going forward we'll look very familiar ... I'm guessing I'm going to coach the game very similar to how Josh did."

Buffington is convinced the program is in good hands.

"The thing I love most about Joe," he said, "is that he's such a student of the game. I think he's the best player-development coach in the state, which is where he's focused his expertise the last 10 years.

"He understands the game and kids really respond to him well. To see him evolve as a coach the last 10 years has been a lot of fun for me to watch ,and we've just had a great working relationship.

"He's obviously ready to take it on, but he's actually been ready for a long time."

But will he be ready for that 2018-19 season-opener it late November? Here's an educated guess ... and a one-word answer.

Yes.

"I think there will be a lot of angst to get it going," Rothweiler said. "I know there will be a lot of nerves, just from moving over that one seat. It carries a little extra weight, but I'm really looking forward to it."

Here's wishing you good luck, coach.

Joe Rothweiler (center) talks with Helias coach Josh Buffington (back to camera) during a timeout in the Crusaders' district championship game with Rolla at Rackers Fieldhouse in 2016. 

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