NOTES: Centennial girls basketball coach Karen Weitz approaches latest milestone

Centennial’s Karen Weitz already is the winningest basketball coach — boys or girls — in Nevada state history.

The Bulldogs girls coach most likely will reach another milestone this week.

Weitz is expected to become the first basketball coach in state history to reach 600 career victories when the Bulldogs host Legacy in a Northwest League game at 5 p.m. Thursday.

Weitz picked up career win No. 599 on Tuesday as Centennial, ranked No. 1 in the Southern Nevada Coaches Poll, walloped Palo Verde 62-14 to improve to 16-2 this season.

“You don’t even realize it because you just coach and coach and coach,” Weitz said of the impending achievement. “I think with our program running year-round for all the years that it has, you do have kids that continue to come back, and they come to watch games. We just had our holiday tournament, and we had kids from that 2002 first state championship team. Two or three of them came. That’s the kind of stuff that’s cool to me.”

Weitz is in her 17th season at Centennial after spending four years at Cheyenne and has a career record of 599-77 with eight state titles, including the past two.

Joe Stein (Rancho and Western) has the most wins in state history for boys basketball with 564, according to the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association record book.

“We were just talking about players from the past,” Weitz said Tuesday. “I was talking about that first group, that Centennial Seven back in ’99, and the kids I have now are looking at me, and I’m like, ‘Oh, you people weren’t even born yet. That was a weird conversation.’”

Weitz spent the 2005-06 season at Pacific and was named the Tigers’ interim head coach when Craig Jackson stepped down six games in.

Weitz, 48, said she doesn’t anticipate returning to the college level any time soon, meaning she will continue to add to her win total with the Bulldogs.

The all-time record for victories by a girls basketball coach is 1,416 by Leta Andrews at four schools in Texas from 1962 to 2014. Joe Lombard of Canyon, Texas, is the active leader with 1,252 victories, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations record book.

“The kids love the games, I know that. I really love practices,” Weitz said. “I think that will be the thing I miss the most one day is I love practices and I love to teach and I love to see the kids get better. And then I like to see their life skills improve. That’s the main thing. We do a lot of traveling, and the stuff we teach them just from the places we go is amazing.”

GAELS HONORED

Bishop Gorman’s Kenny Sanchez was named the 2016 National Football Coach of the Year, and quarterback Tate Martell was named National Player of the Year by MaxPreps.com on Tuesday.

Sanchez and Martell guided the Gaels to a 15-0 record and their eighth consecutive Class 4A state championship with an 84-8 victory over Liberty on Dec. 3. Gorman finished the season ranked No. 1 by every major poll, including the MaxPreps Xcellent 25.

RECENT SIGNINGS

Bishop Gorman senior Nicholas Pero to Grinnell College (Iowa) for football.

Contact reporter David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow @DavidSchoenLVRJ on Twitter.