McCONNELSVILLE — All Joseph Marcinko wanted was an opportunity.
He merely needed to take a trip down Ohio 60 to find it.
Marcinko, a career military man who grew up in Meigs County, was approved in May to replace the departed Rob Justice as the new boys basketball coach at Morgan High School. He hit the ground running, making the rounds with players and faculty alike at the school in an effort to introduce himself.
He saw many of the same qualities around the Twin Cities as he did back home.
"It has that feel — very blue collar, gritty, wants to do things right," Marcinko said.
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His first youth camp was held on Wednesday and Thursday for grades K-8, where coaches and players offered insight to the next generation of the county.
Marcinko medically retired from the Army in 2019 after 17 years, which included a tour in Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom. He has had multiple pieces written on him, including from the New York Times.
He previously coached middle school boys basketball and reserve baseball at John Glenn, but he also has previous experience as an assistant in football and basketball at Reedsville Eastern and Trimble.
He thanked John Glenn coach Eric Sheck for offering him a chance to coach in middle school and stressed how thankful he is for his current opportunity.
Morgan is the first district to give him a head coaching gig.
"John Glenn and Morgan are different in a lot of ways and similar in a lot of ways," Marcinko said. "It's down there in the middle of nowhere, and no one wants to play down there. It's at the bottom of the MVL (location-wise), but you get there, and it is blue-collar people that want to be successful. The kids want to work hard for you. To me, that's it."
He didn't mince words when it came to his immediate intentions for the current crop of Raiders, who are coming off an 8-14 season that featured four losses in their last five games.
Much of June's offseason work was spent in the gym with a concerted effort on team culture and system installation. Particularly, the fomer "Bomb Squad" and "MoCo" personas that Justice instilled are now by the wayside.
"That is part of the old culture," Marcinko said. "I think a lot of guys felt left out. It's time to change how we do things."
He inherits a Morgan squad that lost one of the East District's top players in the versatile Carson Mummey, a special mention All-Ohioan who twice broke the school's single-game scoring record as a senior.
But most of the remaining core from that team is intact. Tavian Myers is the MVL's sixth-leading scorer returning at 15 points per game as a junior; Luke Coleman was among the area's steal leaders at almost three per game.
Brylee Shannon and Cole McGill also saw extensive time in the second half of the season on a varsity roster that featured six sophomores and a freshman.
"I told Tavian that I want him to have the best senior year possible," Marcinko said. "I think he is a very underrated player. He and I have built a great relationship. I care about (the players) more as people. I want them to be successful beyond basketball."
Morgan athletic director Tara Newton said Marcinko's passion for working with children and basketball in general were among his drawing cards for the job.
"Being ex-military, I like his basis of structure," Newton said, adding that the players will benefit from the self-discipline that Marcinko intends to instill.
"He really has that strong basis," Newton added. "He really has a passion for working with kids, and that is what we look for. He really wants to be here for the right reasons."
Newton said it's usually difficult to attract outsiders to the district because of its isolated location almost equidistant between Zanesville and Marietta on the Muskingum River. Amenities are almost exclusively local.
That usually leads to in-house hires, she said, even if the fit isn't always ideal. Marcinko, she said, fits many boxes in an ever-changing landscape on the river.
"He is doing things already that are above and beyond," Newton said. "He was down here walking halls and saying 'hi' to kids who haven’t played since youth and junior high. We're going to have some kids who are going to play who haven’t played in a while."
Marcinko said he is encouraging athletes to play multiple sports. Many, including Myers, Coleman and Shannon, do precisely that.
As for his sport, the team aspect of basketball will be the focus.
"The first thing I told them is we have to change this culture," Marcinko said. "It's a team atmosphere, and everything we do is together. ... You have to come in and do everything right. I am not preaching it, I am with them. It's about all coming together and believing the same thing and wanting the same thing."
sblackbu@gannett.com; X: @SamBlackburnTR
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