Coaches Hehs, Ritz Honored by NFHS

January 12, 2016

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

Two championship-winning Michigan high school coaches were honored Monday by the National Federation of State High School Associations Coaches Association.

Bloomfield Hills Academy of the Sacred Heart girls tennis coach Judy Hehs and Wayland softball coach Cheri Ritz were recognized as National Coaches of the Year in their respective sports after both led their teams to MHSAA championships during the 2014-15 school year.

The following brief bios on Michigan’s winners include excerpts from coaching philosophies they were asked to submit after being identified as candidates:

Judy Hehs has coached girls tennis at Bloomfield Hills Academy of the Sacred Heart since fall 1996 and served as co-coach of three MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 4 championship teams over the last four seasons, including last spring. She also coached the school's varsity girls basketball team from 1988-95 and two sports at Detroit Country Day – field hockey in fall 1987 and then junior varsity boys tennis (while also serving as the varsity assistant) from spring 1988-2000. Hehs was inducted in 2015 into the Michigan High School Tennis Coaches Association Hall of Fame and her girls tennis teams have a record of 141-16-14. She also serves as Sacred Heart’s associate head of school and director of the upper school.

“Why do I coach? I coach to give back to the profession of coaching and to the sport of tennis. Tennis has been a large part of my life since I was young. I coach because I can make a difference in the lives of the young women whom I coach – I can help build character and teach resilience, I can bear witness to their individual and team success and I can be present during those moments when hard lessons are learned. I coach for selfish reasons – I love spending afternoons and weekends with young people. In my classroom, the tennis court, the challenge isn’t making great tennis players. It is about building great people. … There is no better place than a tennis court to teach real life lessons – lessons about work ethic, teamwork, problem solving, independence and the moment when efforts turn into believing and believing turns into accomplishments.”

Cheri Ritz has coached the Wayland softball team to two MHSAA Division 2 championships, in 2006 and again last spring. She began her varsity softball coaching career at Middleville Thornapple Kellogg from 1991-94 and has led Wayland since 1995. She ranks 12th in MHSAA history for softball coaching victories with a career record of 818-207. Ritz also teaches in the Wayland Union district.

“Patience, passion, dedication, virtue, teamwork and love are present daily. I will open the minds and hearts of my athletes, and they will treat people the right way. I will enhance their soul by having them grow righteous values from within. We will instill that maximum effort is simply a way of life. … Our goal will be to be as competitive as possible every year. We will compete every year with high expectations of our players, on and off the field. We will control what we can control, such as effort, attitude and the way that we treat our teammates. We will pay close attention to details. We will work on the basic fundamentals every day in practice. Everything matters, from the way we treat custodians and bus drivers to the way we clean our opponent's dugout after a game to the way we warm up before the game. We will win with class in everything that we do!

The NFHS has been recognizing coaches through an awards program since 1982. Winners of NFHS awards must be active coaches during the year for which they receive their award.

Robichaud's Wheatley Inducted Into NFHS Hall of Fame, Speaks for Class of 2024

By Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor

August 1, 2024

BOSTON — Tyrone Wheatley on July 1 became the 10th Michigan honoree to be inducted into the National High School Hall of Fame by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) – and in addition to that honor, was selected to speak on behalf of the 12-member class during the induction ceremony in Boston. 

The now-Wayne State University football coach surely is best known as a star running back for University of Michigan who went on to play 10 seasons in the NFL for the New York Giants and Oakland Raiders. Wheatley did lead his Robichaud football team to the Class B championship in 1990 and earned a Parade All-America honor, running over three seasons for a combined 4,257 yards and 67 touchdowns, including 2,010 yards and 33 scores on 208 carries as a senior in 1990 – the latter despite playing quarterback half of that season.

But Wheatley also is arguably most glorified in Michigan high school athletics for his accomplishments on the track, where as a junior in 1990 he became the first (of still only two) athletes to win four individual events at an MHSAA Lower Peninsula Finals – placing first in the 100 and 200-meter dashes, 110-meter hurdles and long jump. He led Robichaud to the Class B team title that day, scoring 40 of its 49 points. Wheatley completed his high school career in 1991 with three more Class B individual track & field championships and nine total over his final three seasons; he was injured in the 100 during that senior-year meet and could not run his final race to attempt another four-title day.

Wheatley also was a standout on the basketball court for Robichaud, averaging 14 points and 16 rebounds per game as a senior in earning all-state recognition in that sport as well.

He returned to Robichaud as its varsity football coach in 2007 and led that team to a 9-2 record and the MHSAA Playoffs for the first time since 1994. He then served as an assistant football coach at four college programs including U-M and Syracuse, and with the Buffalo Bills, Jacksonville Jaguars and Denver Broncos. He also served as Morgan State University's head coach from 2019-21 and just completed his first season as head coach at Wayne State.

The video above was shown as an introduction before Wheatley was awarded his Hall of Fame plaque and medal during the induction ceremony. Below, he speaks for the Class of 2024.

Previous Michigan inductees to the National High School Hall of Fame

2022: John E. "Jack" Roberts, MHSAA - Watch
2016: Ken Beardslee, Vermontville Maple Valley - Watch
2011: Brad Van Pelt, Owosso
2007: Jim Johnson, Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook
2005: Bob Wood, Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett
2001: Richie Jordan, Fennville
2000: Diane Laffey, Warren Regina
1986: Lofton Greene, River Rouge
1983: Charles E. Forsythe, MHSAA