By Tom Nader

Publisher and Editor

It has been more than four years since Steve Beshara has coached a basketball game and it has been seven years since the Field High School boys basketball program has had a coach for more than two seasons.

Both Beshara and the Falcons are hoping to change that course.

Beshara was recently announced as Field’s new head coach, returning to coaching after a brief hiatus. His last coaching stop was at Rootstown, where he coached for seven seasons from the 2011-12 season through 2017-18. He posted an overall record of 61-97 and was 29-59 in league play during his tenure with the Rovers.

Beshara, 53, opened practices this week and is ready to keep working.

“I’ve met most of the players, and we are all excited to start the season,” said Beshara, whose unexpected connection with Field began years ago.

“Whenever we (Rootstown) traveled to Field for a game, I always had a strange feeling about the gym. I can remember thinking that it was my kind of environment,” Beshara said.

Now it is his basketball home.

Another connection hits on a much more emotional tone for the veteran coach.

“One of my first thoughts when I seriously started to think about coaching at Field was Bailey Simons,” Beshara said.

Simons, a Rootstown varsity cheerleader, died in a one-car automobile accident on Feb. 14, 2015. She was a junior.

“I taught her at Rootstown,” Beshara said. “Our basketball team and cheerleading squad were closely connected. We honored Bailey on our Senior Night and Field was our opponent. Her favorite color was purple so a purple T-shirt was created to wear to the game that night. We sent a bunch over to Field.

“That night, back in 2015, is a permanent reflection for me,” Beshara added. “I was incredibly proud of the Rootstown community, but I also took notice of the Field community.”

Beshara’s teaching license (social studies) is still active, but he will not be currently teaching at Field. He has an active family and also is preparing to begin a new job with a food manufacturer in Burton.

As for basketball, Beshara centers his coaching philosophy around effort. From there, he places priorities on building out a competitive roster, working to stay connected throughout the program from youth to high school and motivating his players to play hard for their community.

Though he has not coached recently, Beshara’s background includes many coaching stops.

He began his head-coaching career at Allen East (293 students in 2021-22), which is located in Allen County in western Ohio. Beshara then moved to Atlanta, where he was a varsity assistant for two years at a high school. He returned to Ohio and coached at Lake Ridge Academy in North Ridgeville and then spent one year as the Sebring McKinley head coach before beginning his seven-year career at Rootstown.

At Field, the boys basketball program has seen a multitude of head coaches over the last nine seasons. The Falcons have had five different coaches during that span and no coach has led the program for more than two seasons since Tyler Boyle coached for three straight seasons from 2013-16. From the 2017-18 season through the 2020-21 season, the program introduced a new coach every year.

Beshara takes over for Derek Widuck, who resigned earlier this year after spending two seasons as the head coach. Beshara’s staff will include junior varsity coach and varsity assistant Brandon Costanzo and varsity assistant Alex Blake. The group will work to rebuild the program, which has not won more than five games since 2017-18. Over the last four seasons, the Falcons have gone 16-76.

“Stability at Field will take care of itself,” Beshara said. “At the end of each year, I’ll consider my family’s health, the Field community, the coaching staff and the team. Right now, I want to be in the gym with the guys. If that’s how we feel at the end of each year, this opportunity could last awhile.”