High School Sports

Ed Fritz is stepping down at Blue Valley Northwest, where he’s won five state titles

Longtime Blue Valley Northwest High School boys basketball coach Ed Fritz announced his decision to step down from the program on Wednesday.
Longtime Blue Valley Northwest High School boys basketball coach Ed Fritz announced his decision to step down from the program on Wednesday. KC Star file photo

Big news in local high school basketball: Ed Fritz is stepping down at Blue Valley Northwest, where he’s won five Kansas Class 6A state championships.

Fritz is among the most successful coaches in state history. He surpassed 600 career victories three years ago, shortly after being inducted into the Greater Kansas City Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame.

In recent years, Fritz has watched several of his players participate in the NCAA Tournament. In 2018, Loyola reached the Final Four with Clayton Custer and Ben Richardson, who were teammates at Northwest.

This season, in addition to having brothers Parker Braun at Missouri and Chrsitian Braun at Kansas in the field, Joe Pleasant contributed the game-winning free throws in Abilene Christian’s first-round upset of Texas.

In 2019, Fritz coached in the McDonald’s All-America Game. He previously coached at Center High for 15 years and also logged stints at Baker and Nebraska-Kearney.

Blair Kerkhoff
The Kansas City Star
Blair Kerkhoff has covered sports for The Kansas City Star since 1989. He was elected to the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 2023.
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