Assistant coach Oakley-Swartz is soul of Norwalk girls program

NORWALK — Everyone matters. Glancing at the bench area before a Norwalk High School girls basketball game tips off, anyone can see where that phrase originates. Assistant coach Jen Oakley-Swartz's outgoing personality, big smile and high energy level are the outward markers of her special connection to players on a team viewed as an afterthought for many years. "The fact that she can remember all the handshakes is crazy to me, and it shows you what type of person she is," senior standout guard Abby Koenig said. "She puts everything into what she is doing, big or small." As the starters are introduced, Oakley-Swartz does a special, choreographed handshake for each player. Some are a simple handshake with a bit of footwork and others involve a jig, a leap or arm gestures. "I think it just makes everyone feel good individually, knowing she takes the time to learn everyone's handshakes," said senior Kenzie Smith. "That takes so much time, and we've had the same one for the last three years. It's cool to have that same experience before every game." The ritual began when, years ago, three junior-high students sat on Oakley-Swartz's car outside Norwalk Middle School, waiting for her to appear and then demanding that she become their coach. Fifteen years later, Oakley-Swartz is the thread that connects the team. A 1997 graduate of Bellevue — the Truckers' longtime nemesis often standing in the way of success — Oakley-Swartz has experienced both lows and milestone highs with the team. The once-reluctant coach is the single connective thread for the Truckers program. "Basketball has been a huge part of my life, and it gave me a different avenue to impact, and that's where it's at for me," Jen said. "I love the opportunity basketball gives me to impact the girls and the community. I chase that as much as I chase anything." Finding a calling During the 2010-11 school year, the Norwalk girls program needed an eighth-grade coach. Junior-varsity coach Anne (Tyler) Teal's sister, Liz, and Oakley-Swartz were friends. At the time, Oakley-Swartz was well into her physical-therapy career at Fisher-Titus Medical Center; she is currently director of rehabilitation there. "They wanted me to take the opening they had," Oakley-Swartz recalled. "Honestly, I was unsure. It wasn't something I was seeking out to do." Leaving the middle school that day 15 years ago, she was "ambushed." Eighth-graders Makayla Cook, Kasey Duncan and Kayla Walsh were sitting atop her car. "They were basically begging me, so I thought I could do it for one season until they hired someone else," Oakley-Swartz said. The trio had heard that Oakley-Swartz was interviewing for the job that day. "One of the older girls knew Jen through her mom and pointed us in the direction of her car parked in the lot," Cook said. "We took it upon ourselves to go out and make sure she said yes. "She came outside and saw us all on her car and was in shock. We told her that she was our new coach," she added. Cook, a 2015 NHS graduate, recalls Oakley-Swartz said she was still "thinking about" her decision. "We basically told her there was nothing to think about, as we weren't moving until she agreed to do it," she said. "Once she finally convinced us to get off her car, the rest was history." That's when the "Bellevue thing" started. Her NMS team lost to the Lady Red in the regular season, but won the rematch in the Northern Ohio League tournament. "And that started the whole thing in motion," Oakley-Swartz said. After that season, Bellevue graduate Brock Manlet was hired as Norwalk's varsity coach. He had been an assistant coach at BHS. Oakley-Swartz had known Manlet "a little bit" from school, and she liked the idea of moving on to NHS with the same team she had just coached. Both coaches quickly faced the big challenge of winning at Norwalk — where the Truckers had just three winning seasons in the previous 39 years and averaging just six victories per season. After four losing seasons, however, the Truckers surged. With Jiselle Thomas (2,023 points) and a strong supporting cast on the roster, Norwalk was 63-33 over the next four-year stretch. Yet Bellevue still stood in the way: the team has won 15 consecutive league championships. Multiple times, Norwalk closed the gap. The Truckers had chances to knock off the Lady Red, but never could quite get that much-wanted victory. And then, on the 'big stage' of the 2017 tournament — with Thomas injured and on the bench for the second half — Norwalk edged Bellevue by two points to win the Truckers' first-ever district championship. But a league title continued to elude the Truckers. Two years ago, Norwalk lost at the buzzer at Bellevue, and then lost again to the Lady Red by three points in the season finale, which cost the SBC Lake championship. "I had a lot of great experiences at Bellevue as a player," Jen said. "Some of my best memories are on that floor — but the drive of doing something people think you can't do is something else. Bellevue is who everyone chases. They are the pinnacle. "It was frustrating, but you could feel that untapped potential. We were going to get there." Personal touch The pregame handshakes started with Jen's stepdaughter, Leah (Malson) Kuhlman, who played for the Truckers from 2015-18. "She kind of wanted it because we had a unique connection," Oakley-Swartz said. "Once I had it with one, other players wanted in, and it kind of went from there." The ritual is brief, but is important for both the coach and players. "One of the things I value as a coach is the relationships with the girls, and that's really what that is," she said. "That solidifies that everyone's piece matters as we try to build what we are doing. That keeps our group connected toward our big goal." And the personal connections go beyond a handshake. In recent years, Oakley-Swartz has come up with a team slogan for each season. This year, she presented "build it," complete with props. "After every game we play, we have cardboard blocks with our record on it," senior Shyla Gruhlke said. "Once we win the game, we stack the block with an inflatable hammer. Even if we lose, we stack the block and draw it in." The process illustrates building success brick by brick. "It doesn't happen overnight," Gruhlke added. "Coach Jen is such a creative person who can think of things like that and have everyone come together." She noted that 'Coach Jen' came to December practices dressed in either an ugly Christmas sweater or a "Buddy the Elf" costume. "Every single day, no matter what was going on or happening, she was dressed in some sort of Christmas attire," she said. "It was great. She'd keep it on for the whole practice, too." In April 2018, Jen invited Smith and her father, Cornell, to the NCAA women's national title game at Nationwide Arena in Columbus. The game had an instant-classic moment on an Arike Ogunbowale three-point heave at the buzzer for the Notre Dame win over Mississippi State. "I was in the fourth grade, and this was before I even started playing organized basketball," Kenzie Smith said. "That was the first time I knew coach Swartz really cares about everyone as a person, not just as a basketball player." From a decade ago, Cook shares similar memories about Oakley-Swartz checking on players' academics and home life. She also instilled in the players the power of giving back, she noted. Oakley-Swartz began the team's tradition of shopping together for families at Christmas. "They have done it every year since," Cook said. "From day one, Jen had a very big impact on me through my basketball career and life in general. She was more than a coach to a lot of us. She pushed us on and off the court to be the absolute best we could be." Refreshed and reflective After Norwalk made a surprising run to a Division II regional title game in 2022-23, Oakley-Swartz decided to step away from coaching. Then after last season, Manlet stepped down after 181 wins in 13 seasons. When Kyle Brubaker was hired last May, he knew who had to be one of his first phone calls to find a lead assistant coach. "(She) and I passed each other a lot in the hallways here when I was coaching freshman boys here," Brubaker said. "We knew of each other, but not really well. But I had enough of an instinct about her that I knew I'd want to coach with her. Then when you hear what people on the outside said, it was a no-brainer." Oakley-Swartz said the year off reminded her why she coached — and that she needed to return. "And it's these girls," she said. "To see them want to chase something, and trying to figure out what my role is to help them achieve those goals is one of the biggest drivers for me. "The year off kind of reminded me that this is a huge gift, and don't sell the opportunity short." Brubaker didn't need to know much more about his "new" assistant after he saw the reaction of his players. "When you can get that excitement out of a high-school kid about you as an adult, that's half the battle," he said. "Just being with her every day in the gym, she's everything people say she is. She proves it every single day with her emotional intelligence. "When people ask me who is on my staff, they usually respond with, 'it's good to have a woman on staff.' And I agree, it is. But the way she knows basketball and the program, and how she positively influences people, is why we want her to be on our staff." Oakley-Swartz joined a team that retained most of its roster, including nine she already knew, and the Truckers didn't waste any time winning at a record pace. Norwalk finished the regular season at 20-2 overall and 9-1 in the SBC Lake. The Truckers finally defeated Bellevue, 41-38, for the first time since the district upset in 2017. The team claimed a share of the program's first-ever league title with a 48-32 victory over Tiffin on Jan. 31. The 20 wins are the most in a regular season. Now the Truckers enter the tournament tonight as the No. 1 seed in the Division III Buckeye Central district. "The chase has been a journey," Jen said. "I came from a place where success is kind of hard-wired. Coming here, they didn't necessarily have that tradition with basketball. "That first year, especially, seeing those kids get that taste of success was something that kind of fueled me to want to see if that could happen here." Did she think that would be 15 years? Of course not. "Brock and I were on the same page of 'why not here, and why not us?' We've had a ton of great players and coaches come through, and you could see that progress build and build," she said. "I didn't feel like I could stop until we got a group to do that, and it's a huge credit to the kids who bought in, even in those tough years. "I'm so proud of everyone who was part of it getting there." When Norwalk beat Mansfield Madison in the final home game on Feb. 4, the assistant coach had a moment midway through the third quarter. "I kind of disconnected from my coach-self long enough to look around and see the big crowd and all the little kids that were squealing while watching our girls," she said. "Just to take that pause of like … look at what this has turned into." Cook is one of many former players who has kept up with the Truckers. "I've been lucky to get to a few games and to see the way the girls almost 10 years younger than me still look up to Jen," Cook said. "She is a pillar in the program and continues to help shape amazing athletes and young women. "When anyone thinks of Norwalk girls basketball, you think of Jen Swartz and Brock Manlet." On Feb. 8, hours after the regular season was over, Norwalk players and coaches cut down the nets to celebrate the program's historic league title. After watching Oakley-Swartz have her own moment snipping the net, Gruhlke pointed to the coach, who was practicing a handshake with Reagan Mooney. "She is a special person, no matter what she does," Gruhlke said. "She will always make you feel like the only person in her world. She is someone I look up to a lot."