Shaffer, Lipinski are Coaches of Year at the Greater Akron-Canton High School Sports Awards
Hoover's Ryan Shaffer and Twinsburg's Jim Lipinski were honored as Coaches of the year on Friday at the Greater Akron-Canton High School Sports Awards show.
In all, 37 awards were handed out at the show, which honored athletes, coaches and teams from the area. The show was produced with the support of the Meijer, Planet Fitness, SARTA, USA Today Sports and Golfweek.
Shaffer is the Girls Coach of the Year after retiring at the end of this school year after a record-setting run as a high school tennis coach in Stark County, spending the last 21 years at North Canton Hoover coaching the boys and girls teams. Last September, in a match at his alma mater, Perry, Shaffer became the winningest coach in Ohio high school history. His final career record is 1,061 wins against 178 losses. His 2023 Hoover girls team was ranked No. 1 throughout the season and finished third in the state, losing one match all year. It was the 8th team he coached to a state final four. He also coached 84 players to the OHSAA state tournament, including five Hoover girls last fall when Tess Bucher joined 1990s Aquinas star Celena McCoury as state championship players coached by Shaffer. Last fall’s Hoover girls team became the 19th Federal League championship he coached, including 14 by the girls teams. Shaffer was inducted into the Ohio Tennis Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2011, one of four halls of fame he has been enshrined in.
Lipinski is the Boys Coach of the Year after guiding the Twinsburg baseball team through the tragedy of its coach Jeff Luca’s death last December in a car accident, helping the Tigers make an unexpected run to the state semifinals in the spring. Twinsburg reached the state tournament for the first time since 2006, having won 23 games.
The Greater Akron-Canton High School Sports Awards show is part of the USA TODAY High School Sports Awards, the largest high school sports recognition program in the country.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Shaffer, Lipinski are Coaches of Year: Greater Akron-Canton H.S. Sports Awards
