Franklin Regional girls basketball coach Anthony Kobus resigns

By: Bill Beckner Jr.
Wednesday, March 31, 2021 | 9:31 PM

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Anthony Kobus doesn’t want to blink and miss his two daughters’ youth and high school athletic careers.

“It’s time to take a break for my family,” said Kobus, who resigned as the girls head basketball coach at Franklin Regional this week after three seasons.

His oldest daughter, Ava, is a freshman basketball and volleyball player at Norwin. His younger daughter, Alexa, is a seventh grader who plays soccer and basketball.

“It’s about my kids and my wife and spending more time with them,” Kobus said. “You have to cherish the time with your kids. You don’t get that time back. I want to take a break and do other things.”

Kobus, a teacher at Penn Hills, said it was tough coaching at one place while trying to follow his daughter’s progress at another.

“I would try to rewatch the (livestreamed) Norwin games after our games,” he said. “I want to be there in person to watch her play. And with Alexa coming up in basketball, she and Ava could be together (at Norwin).”

This season, the Panthers finished 5-10 overall and were last in Section 4-5A at 1-8. They opted to compete in the WPIAL open playoffs and lost to Armstrong, 59-41, in the Class 5A preliminary round.

Overall, Kobus was 28-33 and led Franklin Regional to the playoffs in his first season when he inherited senior transfer and standout Cali Konek, who went on to play at Charlotte.

“We won a first-round playoff game, and that was a great memory for me,” Kobus said. “It had been a while since FR won in the first round and made the quarterfinals. Cali, all those girls, we had a nice team. That was a nice year for us. I have many memories from coaching at Franklin.”

And those memories are not just from the hardwood. Kobus was a football coach at the ninth grade and varsity levels for 14 years.

“I enjoyed my time at Franklin,” he said. “One thing I will say is that I’ve worked with some great (athletic directors) in Zach (Kessler at Franklin Regional), Neil Gordon (Penn Hills) and Kerry Hetrick (Penn-Trafford). Zach was always there for me. He helped me grow as a person and a coach. I will miss relationships like that.”

Kobus also coached football at Penn Hills and Saltsburg, junior varsity basketball at Penn-Trafford, eighth grade boys basketball at Riverview, and seventh grade boys basketball at Franklin Regional.

Bill Beckner Jr. is a TribLive reporter covering local sports in Westmoreland County. He can be reached at bbeckner@triblive.com.

Tags: Franklin Regional