Dragons will look Different in 2015-2016.

Written Thursday May 7th, at 11:30 AM

The Orion Dragons will be looking for their fourth boys basketball coach in seven seasons on Wednesday when coach Tom Risi stepped down Wednesday after suffering a tough 4-16 season in 2014-2015.

Risi led the Dragons to the state quarterfinals in 2012 and gave Orion their first district title in 28 years and first regional title since 1925 in 2012.

Possible Candidates:

With Risi's resignation it means that Orion Athletic Director, Bill Reiss will be looking for a new coach. It wouldn't be surprising at all, that these seven would be in the running for the job. The Orion job is a good job with three middle schools forming one big school. It is possible that Reiss would look elsewhere but these seven coaches do come into mind when looking for the best candidate.

1. Steve DeHart: DeHart is the current Junior Varsity coach for the Dragons. He is also known in the football routs as well as one of the freshman coaches and his kids are in district. DeHart has been successful on Junior Varsity in the last three seasons, including an 18-2 mark with this upcoming senior class. He knows the players well and is well respected by them. Risi was unproven as a varsity coach when he got the job and look what happened there, it could be possible that Reiss moves everyone up like he did with the girls volleyball program when Ross Talbot left for Oxford.

2. Dwayne Graves: The media (MiPrepZone and the Detroit News) will be all over this story if Graves chooses to come home and coach his alumni school. Graves is a 1994 Orion graduate and has had success coaching at Bloomfield Hills Lahser (three seasons) and one and a half seasons at Bloomfield Hills until an ugly incident cost him his job. He brings championship experience as he took the Blackhawks to the State title game in 2013-2014. Graves does have some friends in the school as Bob Brydges his childhood friend is the current Girls Freshman Basketball Coach. Graves would be a huge hire and give Orion creditably right away.

3. Randy Maynard: Maynard brings experience to the fold with his AAU background and was the former Freshman Basketball coach at Orion in 2010-2011. Also remember Maynard has a son in Drew and a daughter in Dawn and they know the basketball background and have had successful basketball careers. Also Maynard knows the players very well as well.

4. Steve Laidlaw: The former Oxford Varsity and current Avondale Junior Varsity coach has had an interest in running the Dragons program. Laidlaw brings varsity experience and has done very well since being forced out of Oxford. He has had success at Avondale as the team's Junior Varsity coach and an assistant under Tim Morton.

5. Al Katolla: Katolla has experience at Oak Park, he has been all over the program from Varsity, Junior Varsity, and Freshman. It could be interesting if he gets the job and if he wants it considering the situation at Oak Park.

6. Jim Manzo: Manzo was a former Dragons player in the 1980's and former Varsity Basketball coach until 2008. He has had successful seasons at Waldon and on the Varsity level as well and he knows the players well since he is in the school everyday as a math teacher. The question will be is will he come back???

7. Jack Lingeman: Lingeman was in the running for the job in 2011 before it went to Risi and he was a good coach at Scripps. It is possible he could make a run at the job.

We'll see what happens with the coaching situation keep updated with the Dragons Den Blog and OAA Now for complete updates.