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Rob Matula becomes Mason High School's all-time winningest girls basketball coach

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Posted at 12:11 PM, Jan 12, 2021
and last updated 2021-01-19 14:37:26-05

MASON, Ohio — Mason High School girls basketball coach Rob Matula became the program's all-time coaching wins leader on Monday night as the Comets defeated visiting Hamilton 77-24.

Matula has a 280-75 career record within the Mason girls basketball program and is in his 16th season coaching the Comets.

"I do know that he gets up every day every season, starts the season working hard and works hard all the way through the season," Mason athletic director Scott Stemple said.

Matula, who has coached 23 years overall, edged former Mason coach Gerry Lackey (279 wins) for the leader in program wins. Matula has been a biology teacher for 33 years.

"As I was thinking about it I was thinking about how honored that I am to be friends with some of the steep history of coaches here," Matula said.

"It's pretty impressive the coaches that we have now that are still active. So I just feel very honored and blessed to be friends with them and to be able to share something like this with them."

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Lackey led the Comets to the 2000 Division I state championship. He has a 279-56 record in 14 seasons at Mason.

Matula, who has won numerous coaching honors, has also coached the boys basketball programs at Talawanda and Sycamore prior to Mason. He returned to coach the Mason girls basketball team in 2005.

Mason senior forward Marilyn Popplewell is grateful for the opportunity to play for Matula.

"He's one of the most emotional guys I've ever met," Popplewell said. "He gets teary-eyed probably once every three games talking to us after the game. Just so emotional and thankful for us as players. I see him at school in the hallway and he's always so excited to say hi to us"

Mason has won or shared three Greater Miami Conference titles, seven district titles and two regional championships.

Mason was the 2016 Division I state runner-up.

"Mason in general just means the world to me," Matula said. "The program is something that I get to use as a representation of how much I love Mason."

Mason (8-0, 6-0 GMC this season) plays at Fairfield (0-9, 0-4) Wednesday night.