MADISON TWP. — Brian McGuire remembered installing the basketball hoop backboard support beams at the old Madison High School field house with longtime friend and former coach Jeff Smith.
He didn’t know just how much the 1990s project would positively affect the community back then.
“We started playing basketball there. It really was something else,” McGuire said. “You do things to want to help. You do things because you want to make a difference in the lives of the youth.”
After more than four decades of coaching at the high school level, McGuire — who has led Madison’s girls basketball team for the last 10 years — announced on Saturday that he will retire at the end of this season.
“This has been special,” said McGuire, a 1975 Madison graduate. “There’s a part of me that is going to miss it. I’ve kind of prepared myself for it by letting my son (Tommy) do most of the coaching for the last couple of years.”
McGuire began his coaching career at Middletown Christian helping Smith in the early 1980s. He was the JV coach and varsity assistant until 1993, and the two led the varsity program to the sectional finals in 1992.
They were also responsible for entering MCS into Ohio High School Athletic Association competition.
“That was really neat to see happen and be a part of,” McGuire said.
The duo came to Madison in 1994, with Smith leading the varsity and McGuire coaching the freshman and JV boys basketball programs from 1994-2000. McGuire led the freshman team to a Southwestern Buckeye League championship, while assisting Bob Evick on the baseball team around that time.
McGuire took the girls head coach job at Madison from 2000-2004 before his full-time occupation as a tool maker at Deceuninck North America in Monroe forced him away from the court for two seasons.
He later rejoined Smith on the Madison boys team as a varsity assistant from 2006-2014 and was rehired as the head coach of the girls program the following season.
McGuire went on to win the SWBL championship in each of his first two seasons back and was named the league’s Coach of the Year four times.
Madison defeated Brookville on Saturday, giving McGuire his 173rd career coaching victory. The Mohawks community celebrated his last time on Madison’s home court with a postgame ceremony.
The Mohawks take on Arcanum in the first round of the Division III tournament on Thursday at 6 p.m. at Covington.
McGuire has been a part of seven league championships, a sectional championship, a district championship and a regional finalist team. But one of his biggest achievements, he said, had nothing to do with wins and losses.
“We got the metro youth program for boys basketball going at Madison,” said McGuire, who was responsible for entering the program into an actual league instead of playing an independent schedule.
McGuire, 67, said coaching wouldn’t have been possible without the support from his wife Pam and their three children Allison, Samantha and Tommy.
“My wife is the best coach’s wife ever,” he said. “She and my kids — they’ve supported me through all of these years.
“What makes this a lot easier on me is knowing that Tommy has a chance to possibly get this job,” McGuire noted of his son, who has been an assistant coach for the last several years.
“Back when I was younger, I really didn’t appreciate what my dad did and how much he’s contributed to this community with what I know now,” Tommy McGuire chimed in. “The spiderweb of his impact goes so far. Seeing what my dad has accomplished, I hope to be able to have the chance to continue that.”
McGuire, who is a Madison Township trustee, said he looks forward to spending more time with family and watching his grandkids play sports.
“I’ll definitely still be around the basketball court — but you’ll be seeing me in the stands,” he said while smiling. “I was ready for this. I think I’ll be OK with that.”
