Ben Giertz to Coach at Tri-County

Ben Giertz is getting ready for his first varsity coaching job, having been named boys basketball coach at Tri-County.

Giertz, a Stewardson-Strasburg High School graduate, was named to succeed Blake Doehring, who is the new coach at Cerro Gordo/Bement and Cerro Gordo athletic director.

Giertz has coached junior high basketball at Stew-Stras the past two seasons. The junior high program reached the state tournament this past spring. Giertz also taught and coached at Effingham High School this past school year.

Giertz was also hired to teach elementary physical education at Shiloh.

The 25-year-old Giertz played basketball at Lake Land College and at Greenville College. He was a 1,000-point career scorer for Mike Walker at Stew-Stras.

Tri-County finished 21-7 this past season, but graduated 11 players off the team.

Giertz's departure leaves a couple of vacancies at Stewardson-Strasburg. Giertz was to serve as assistant baseball coach for the new Windsor/Stew-Stras Hatchets and was to work as a Special Education aide at Stew-Stras.