Big Walnut hires all-time leading scorer Aaron Stumpf to coach boys basketball program

If everything goes according to plan for new Big Walnut boys basketball coach Aaron Stumpf, he won’t be the program’s all-time leading scorer much longer.

but stepped down two days later after deciding to remain at Otterbein as an assistant coach. Stumpf met with his new team Tuesday afternoon.

“This is something I had an interest in, especially recently,” he said. “We were all really excited about Matt and his opportunity up here and what he was going to do. When he stepped aside, it presented an opportunity that I knew that I could step in and fill the role needed, and that’s when I started getting serious and talking to (athletic director) Brian (Shelton) about it and seeing if this was a fit.”

A 1995 graduate, Stumpf helped lead the Golden Eagles to back-to-back Buckeye Athletic Conference titles and two district championships.

“I hope our program has the same success that I got to experience in the ‘90s,” he said. “I hope that we win some district championships and that we compete in regional championships more than any individual goals. For those things to happen, you have to have good players, and I think we have that. Some of those good players will rewrite record books, and I’ll be all for that.”

Big Walnut went 16-7 overall and 9-5 in the OCC-Capital last winter, finishing the season under interim coaches Ric Cavicchia and Brady Prugh after Brett Bartlett stepped down in February.

Stumpf played college basketball at Toledo and Cedarville, graduating from Cedarville with a degree in business. He served as an assistant coach at Capital for three seasons and has coached at the AAU and youth levels.

“We are fortunate to have someone of Aaron’s caliber with exceptional leadership skills to steer our boys basketball program,” Shelton said in announcing the hire Tuesday via social media.

Stumpf and his wife, Kari, have three sons.

“I have a lot of investment into the community in my 46 years and I have a lot of good relationships with people that I know,” Stumpf said. “I’m hoping that those relationships that I do have can help build the program back up and generate a little more community support for it.”