Father & Son Set to Meet for 1st Time Coaching from Opposing Benches
By
Doug Donnelly
Special for MHSAA.com
December 10, 2025
The bantering back and forth is almost complete.
On Thursday, Mike and Zachary Zyla will finally coach against each other in a varsity girls basketball game.
It’s a game that both coaches circled months ago when Zachary, 26, got his first head coaching job at Britton Deerfield.
“It’s going to be intense,” Zachary said. “I’m sure he will want to win just as badly as I will. Me and our girls have been talking about the game a lot because it’s a game we think we can win. We want to beat Sand Creek.”
Mike Zyla coaches Sand Creek and is Zachary’s dad. He is a longtime coach in cross country and track and added varsity basketball to his resume three years ago. Zachary, who played at Sand Creek, was hired this past offseason to coach the Patriots.
Both schools are in the Tri-County Conference.
“It’s going to be fun,” Mike said. “We’ve been going back and forth about it for a couple of weeks. We’ll see how it goes.”
Basketball is special in the Zyla household.
Zachary’s other brother, Ryan, coaches at a junior college in Minnesota. His sister, Chelsi, played two years of college basketball after graduating from Sand Creek. Their mom, Kirsten, keeps the scorebook for Mike’s games. She is a special education teacher at Britton Deerfield.
“When basketball season rolls around, that’s all we talk about,” Zachary said.
“I guess it’s a little bit in the bloodlines,” Mike said.
After graduating from Sand Creek in 2018, Zachary served in the Navy. He returned home two years ago and served two seasons as his dad’s assistant.
“I just love the game of basketball,” he said. “I’ve been playing since I was probably 2 years old. It’s the thing I’m passionate about. I watch almost every night. If it’s not a live basketball game, I watch clips of old games. I’m just a junkie for basketball.”
Mike said he misses having his son on his bench.
“I miss having him on staff,” Mike said. “He’s really sharp, picking stuff up on the fly. It was nice having him on the sidelines with me. It’s a good opportunity for him, though.”
Please welcome BD’s new varsity girls basketball coach Zach Zyla! Zach comes to BD from Sand Creek where his father Mike is the head girls coach. Zach assisted on the Aggie varsity girls team in the 2024/25 season and is a track assistant coach for the Aggies. Go Patriots! pic.twitter.com/6cpwUw6OW4
— BD Athletics (@athletics_bd) May 2, 2025
Zachary accepted the job in time to have a summer program with BD.
“I’ve always been a big fan of basketball,” he said. “It’s in my blood. I started coaching the Sand Creek hoopsters when I was 16 years old. I knew that’s what I wanted to do. I would say coaching at the varsity level was a goal of mine. It’s always been a dream of mine. I didn’t expect to get a head coaching job so soon. I’d like to get to the next level someday.”
He said he has a few new things for his team to run against his dad.
“He taught me a lot, but our coaching strategies are different,” Zachary said. “I think I’m going to have some things he hasn’t seen yet.”
Sand Creek and BD both lost their season openers Tuesday. Since BD’s game started at 4:30 p.m., Zachary was able to get to Sand Creek to see his dad’s game against Pittsford.
“He was able to scout us,” Mike said.
It’s all in good fun.
“We have a great relationship,” Zachary said. “We bounce ideas off each other all of the time. Even for our first game of the season, we were talking about what we should do, the offenses and defenses. We talk pretty much every day.”
As rare as it is for a father and son to coach against each other, it’s the second time it’s happened in Lenawee County in recent years. Hudson varsity boys basketball coach Jeff Webster coached against his son, Jamison Webster, when Hudson played Tecumseh two seasons ago.
Jamison said it was a great experience, one the Zylas will never forget.
“Coaching and competing against my dad’s teams at Hudson over the last few years has been a great experience,” he said. “We both want to win, being the competitors we are. That being said, the lifelong memories we have made being able to share a sport we both love is what makes it special.”
Zachary said he knows it will be a little different than normal.
“The game’s intensity will be higher than most nights,” he said.
Mike agreed. He doesn’t relish the idea of beating his son, but doesn’t plan on backing down. Since they are both in the TCC, they’ll face off again later this winter.
“We’re both pretty competitive,” he said. “Competitive genes are in the family. I don’t think either one of us will be very happy if we are on the losing side Thursday night.”
Doug Donnelly has served as a news and sports reporter at the Adrian Daily Telegram and the Monroe News for 30 years, including 10 years as city editor in Monroe. He's written a book on high school basketball in Monroe County and compiles record books for various schools in southeast Michigan. He is now publisher and editor of The Blissfield Advance, a weekly newspaper. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Jackson, Washtenaw, Hillsdale, Lenawee and Monroe counties.
PHOTO Britton Deerfield varsity girls basketball coach Zachary Zyla poses for a photo with his father Mike Zyla, right, the varsity girls basketball coach at Sand Creek. (Photo provided by the Zyla family.)
Breslin Bound: Girls Report Week 12
February 24, 2015
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Believe it or not, girls basketball practice began more than three months ago.
Fifteen weeks later, we have only one more of the regular season, making this our last chance to tout the races for league titles that will finish playing out over the next six days.
Read on for some of the teams that either accomplished big things over the last week or still can – and we’ll look at more Monday as we jump into the start of District tournaments all over Michigan.
CLASS A
East Kentwood (10-8) – The Ottawa-Kent Conference Red race has been close among the top four teams, and East Kentwood beat fourth-place Rockford on Friday to set up tonight’s likely championship game against Hudsonville (see below). The Falcons were 7-14 and fifth in the league a year ago.
Hudsonville (10-8) – The Eagles’ turnaround has been even more dramatic than that of East Kentwood (above). Hudsonville was 2-19 and last in the O-K Red a year ago, but beat fourth-place Rockford and third-place Holland West Ottawa last week to set up tonight’s conference decider.
Marquette (18-0) – The Redettes locked up their third consecutive Great Northern Upper Peninsula Conference title, but can take the achievement to another level with two more victories this week to finish the regular season undefeated for the first time during this three-season run. Marquette beat West Peninsula Athletic Conference champion Houghton 49-40 on Friday.
Oxford (14-4) – The Wildcats have ridden nine straight wins to the Oakland Activities Association White title, clinching it last week with a 51-32 victory over second-place Troy. Oxford already had eclipsed last season’s 13 wins.
CLASS B
Center Line (16-2) – The Panthers also have won nine straight and must hold on this week against third-place Marine City and seventh-place Mount Clemens to share the Macomb Area Conference Gold title with Marysville. Center Line finished second, a game back, in the MAC Silver last season.
Grand Rapids Catholic Central (16-2) – The Cougars avenged in a big way their only O-K Gold loss – 77-76 to Wayland on Jan. 23 – by beating Wayland 64-42 on Friday to move into a first-place tie with the Wildcats with two league games to play. GRCC has finished league runner-up the last two seasons.
Haslett (14-4) – The Vikings are 9-0 with standout Makenna Ott and went 5-4 without her before she returned from injury for Friday’s 57-53 win over Lansing Waverly (14-5). Her return is just in time to help Haslett hold on to a share of the Capital Area Activities Conference Red title and possibly get revenge in the District against Williamston, the first to beat the Vikings after Ott was hurt.
Kentwood Grand River Prep (14-1) – The Titans haven’t lost since the first Saturday of this season, to Ypsilanti Arbor Prep (14-3), and can clinch a share of the River Valley Conference title tonight against Wyoming Tri-unity Christian. Junior Mariah McCully sets the pace, scoring 24.4 points per game.
CLASS C
Adrian Madison (15-4) – The Trojans locked up the Tri-County Conference title with a win Friday over Petersburg-Summerfield after also avenging their only league loss, Jan. 13 to Britton Deerfield, in their rematch Feb. 10. Two of Madison’s other three losses were to teams that also have won league championships this winter.
Brown City (13-5) – The Green Devils bounced back from three straight losses at the start of February to win four straight and secure a top-three finish in the Greater Thumb Conference East. They get to see how far they’ve come Thursday against league leader Sandusky – which beat Brown City 46-38 on Feb. 3.
Manchester (15-2) – The Flying Dutch have clinched the Cascade Conference championship, besting a field with four more teams that have won at least 11 games overall. It was a nice step up after tying for second last season; the only losses this winter came early to second-place Napoleon and at the end of January to still-undefeated Pittsford.
Unionville-Sebewaing (14-4) – The Patriots’ lone league loss came to Reese – but USA regained the upper hand in the Greater Thumb Conference West by defeating the Rockets 57-44 in their rematch Thursday. USA can clinch a shared title tonight against Vassar, which the Patriots beat by four Jan. 20.
CLASS D
Athens (11-6) – Few Class D teams play in a more competitive mostly-Class C league than the Big 8 Conference, and all six of Athens’ losses were to Class C teams with at least 10 wins. The Indians have won four straight and can get further geared up for a tournament run if they tonight can avenge an earlier loss to Reading.
Battle Creek St. Philip (14-5) – Despite falling to second-place Climax-Scotts on Friday, the Tigers can clinch the Southern Central Athletic Association West title outright by defeating Colon on Thursday. St. Philip did rattle off eight straight wins during a perfect January.
Mendon (10-8) – The Hornets will have to settle for a middle finish in the Berrien-Cass-St. Joseph Conference East, but are 7-2 after a tough start and have avenged losses to second-place White Pigeon and league champion Bronson. Mendon made the Quarterfinals last season and could be gathering steam again.
Waldron (11-5) – The Spartans play in the same SCAA East as the only undefeated team in Class D, Pittsford. But Waldron has won more games than all of last season and gone 9-2 since a rough early start and despite playing in an SCAA division where all four teams have 10 or more wins.
PHOTO: Haslett fell to Goodrich 55-43 on Jan. 20 but enter the final week of the regular season at full strength with the return of Makenna Ott from injury. (Click for more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com).