Coach Adkins is starting his 8th year as the Boys Basketball Head Coach for Lakota East High School and his 19th overall as member of the basketball program.  He played high school basketball at Wilmington (1994-1998) and collegiately at The College of Mount St. Joseph.  During his seven years as a head coach, Adkins has helped the program to three GMC championships (14-15, 18-19, 19-20), three District Championships ( 15-16, 18-19, 19-20), and one elite eight appearance that was cut short due to Covid.  Adkins is a History/Sociology teacher at Lakota East High School. He is married to Laura Adkins and has three children, Nathan, Luke, and Alexandra.

Coach Dan Wallace is starting his 4th year as the Girls Basketball Head Coach for Lakota East High School.  He is in his 13th season overall as a head coach and  15th year coaching high school basketball. During his thirteen years as a head coach, Coach Wallace has earned 3 Conference Championships (2015, 2017, 2018), seven Sectional Championships (2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2021), and two District Championships (2015, 2017). Coach Wallace has been selected as Coach of the Year 3 times in his conference and District16 Coach of the Year in 2017. Coach Wallace was also privileged enough to have 3 different players get awarded Player of the Year in both Conference (GGCL) and District 16.  Coach Wallace is a physical education teacher in Lakota Local Schools and is in his  17th  year of teaching. He is married to Jody Wallace and has been blessed with two daughters, Rowen and Piper.

This will be Coach Curlis’s 5th year with the bowling team, the second year as the Head Coach. Coach Curlis has 33 years of coaching experience at the J.V. and Varsity level in a variety of sports. He has coached both girls’ and boys’ athletics. Coach Curlis began his Coaching career in 1988 as a Scout and Special Teams Coach in Northwest Ohio. He graduated from the University of Toledo in 1990. Coach Curlis has Taught and coached in several States including Ohio, Missouri, New York, and California.

This will be Coach Curlis’s 4th year with the bowling team, the first year as the Head Coach. Coach Curlis has 32 years of coaching experience at the J.V. and Varsity level in a variety of sports. He has coached both girls’ and boys’ athletics. Coach Curlis began his Coaching career in 1988 as a Scout and Special Teams Coach in Northwest Ohio. He graduated from the University of Toledo in 1990. Coach Curlis has Taught and coached in several States including Ohio, Missouri, New York, and California.

John is a graduate of Hamilton High school and Miami University.  He started his 34-year coaching career in 1985.  He has coached at all levels, including as a Varsity head coach during a 15 year stay at Middletown High School.  

His wife, Lisa is an English teacher at East.  He has three children, Lindsey, Jacob, and Paige plus two grandchildren.  John is in his 31st year as a teacher and is currently working as a Secondary Transition Coordinator at the Union Day Therapeutic school.

Coach Pennix is a graduate of THE Lakota High School.  During his time at Lakota, he was coached by two Ohio Coaches Hall of Fame members, Bob Dalton and Bob Stoll. Bryan was a GMC champion for the Thunderbirds. 

            After high school, Bryan went on to attend Bowling Green State University.  During his four years at BGSU, Coach Pennix played rugby for the Falcons.  The Falcons won the Mid-American Conference all four years.  He met his wife, Amanda, at BGSU.  They will have been married for 28 years this December 17^th.  Their daughter, Elizabeth, is 23 years old and their son, Andy, is 20 years old.

He started his career as an assistant coach at Reading High School for 7 years where he was able to work with another Ohio Coaches Hall of Fame coach, Dick Engel.  The Blue Devils won multiple league and sectional titles and one district title.  They also had multiple state placers and two state champions.

After that, Coach Pennix was the head coach at Blanchester for 13 years before he became the athletic director for the Wildcats.  The hard-working student athletes and their supportive families helped earn many accomplishments.

• 3x SWOWCA Coach of the Year 
• 3x SWOWCA DIII Team of the Year 
• 5x SBAAC Coach of the Year 
• 4x SBAAC conference Champions 
• 2x DIII SW Ohio Sectional Champions 
• 2013 Dual meet Regional Champions
• Dual meet record 162 wins, 67 losses
• 16 state qualifiers, 7 state placers, One 2x state champion
• 65 district qualifiers, 23 district placers, 4 district champion

This is Patrick Kreider's eighth season coaching the East Chess Team.   Patrick has taught mathematics at East since the school opened in 1997.  

Coach Beck has been coaching swimming for over 30 years and brings a wealth of experience to his Lakota athletes. In his 25-year career as the head coach at Lakota East, he has been GMC Coach of the Year 10 times over the course of his career, as well as 2005 District Women's Coach of the Year and 2006 District Men's Coach of the Year. He also won the OHSAA Sportsmanship, Ethics and Integrity Award in 2017. 

Coach Beck's most memorable coaching experience is watching a group of swimmers start to believe in themselves and accomplish the goals they are working towards. The look of excitement on their faces when they accomplish the "time", qualify for the meet, or set a record makes the work worthwhile. 

In his spare time, Coach Dennis is often on the boat, out on the water on a wave runner, or backpacking. 

Mardi Dagley returns as the head coach at Lakota East for the 22nd season. Dagley is a four-time Southwest Ohio District Coach of the Year. She is also the head coach at Lakota West, where she has coached for 8 years. She is also a certified gymnastics judge.

In her high school days Dagley competed in gymnastics for Lakota East.