By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
In a few weeks, Rod Snapp will begin his 16th year as special education teacher and boys head basketball coach at Newport High School following a very eventful summer.
The school system hired a new high school principal in May and appointed an interim superintendent in June. Snapp will also be adjusting to changes on his basketball team since two starting players are leaving to enroll in sports academies.
The departing players are James Turner, who will be joining AZ Compass Prep School in Arizona, and Griffin Starks, who’s headed for Southeastern Prep in Florida.
Both of them were starting forwards for the Wildcats last season. Turner averaged 14.2 points and 7.2 rebounds as a junior. Starks averaged 10.7 points and 7.3 rebounds as a sophomore.
They’re making the same move as their former Newport teammate Taylen Kinney, a highly recruited college prospect who will be senior at Overtime Elite, a basketball academy in Atlanta.
“I’ll be 56 years old in August and this is all new to me,” Snapp said of his depleted roster due to the transfers. “I mean, what other school in Northern Kentucky ever went through this … nobody.”
Sports academies have become a popular option for high school athletes who aspire to compete on the major college and professional levels. Their primary role is offering a structured environment where students can devote more time to improving their athletic skills in various sports while maintaining mandatory academic studies.
Newport’s basketball team is an example of the impact academies are having on traditional high school sports.
“You’ll still have competitiveness in high school basketball, but you’re not going to have your elite talent playing,” said coach Snapp.
Kinney’s decision to attend Overtime Elite has worked out well. The 6-foot-1 combo guard is among the nation’s top 20 college prospects in the class of 2026. He has received scholarship offers from several of the nation’s top college programs.
Turner and Starks have already gotten offers from NCAA Division I teams. They’re enrolling at sports academies to increase their recruiting exposure, but they’ll have to work hard to get playing time on teams with high-level talent.
Snapp said it has been “a challenging process” working with the two players and their families as they weigh their options to stay at Newport or enroll at the academies.
“I really hope we can keep moving forward in high school sports,” he said. “Continued uncertainty like this could create added difficulties for everyone involved, especially high school coaches.”
Conner grad playing summer basketball in Brazil
Conner graduate Landen Hamilton is playing basketball in Brazil this week with a USA Sports team, according to a post on the Centre College X account.
Last season, Hamilton led the Centre team in scoring average (16.0), assists per game (4.5) and total steals (58) as a sophomore guard. The Colonels made it to the NCAA Division III Southern Athletic Conference tournament final and finished with a 17-10 record.
In the conference tournament semifinals, Hamilton scored a career-high 35 points with 10 rebounds and six assists. He was a double-figure scorer in 20 games and ended up shooting 46.1 percent from the field (125 of 271).
In his senior season at Conner, Hamilton averaged a team-high 17.3 points and was named to the Division I all-star team by local coaches. He and his sister, Anna, were the first brother and sister in Conner’s history to score more than 1,000 points during their basketball careers.
CovCath hires new head coach for wrestling team
Kane Plaugher as the new head coach of the Covington Catholic wrestling team that placed sixth out of 13 team in last year’s Region 5 tournament.
Plaugher coached wrestling at two high schools in Ohio and most recently at Campbell County. In addition to coaching, he spent the last two years officiating in both Ohio and Kentucky, earning the honor of officiating at the 2025 state championships.
“Our goal is to compete for state titles as individuals and as a team, and just as importantly, to prepare these young men for the greater challenge that lies beyond the mat – life,” Plaugher said in a CovCath media release.
A 2013 graduate of Shawnee High School in Ohio, Plaugher was a two-sport athlete in cross country and wrestling during his high school years. He went on to wrestle at the University of Indianapolis.