PUP girls basketball Coach of the Year: South Fayette’s Bryan Bennett

After watching a historic WPIAL championship four-peat slip through his team’s hands, South Fayette coach Bryan Bennett couldn’t stop beating himself up and second-guessing what he could have done differently to change the outcome in that devastating defeat against Peters Township.

Sometimes, all you need to do is phone a friend in a time of need.

“My best friend, [Sewickley Academy boys assistant coach] Greg Cercone — I called him one day. He was like, ‘So what? You lost. Go win the state,’” Bennett said. “He called me every day. He would say that and hang up on me. He would not let me pout about it. It got it out of my system.”

With a fourth consecutive WPIAL title no longer in reach, the Lions had no time to drown in their sorrows. Bennett and his players watched the film of their heartbreaking 40-36 loss in the WPIAL Class 5A championship game one time, then moved on to begin their pursuit of an elusive state title.

Game by game, South Fayette dismantled the opposition the same way it had done all season, steamrolling its way through the western side of the bracket while avenging its WPIAL championship loss against the Indians with a 50-36 win in the state semifinals. That set up a massive rematch two years in the making against Philadelphia Catholic League powerhouse Archbishop Wood, the premier basketball dynasty in the state and four-time defending PIAA champion.

Two years removed from a 61-54 defeat against the Vikings in the PIAA Class 5A championship game, South Fayette turned the tables with a stunning 45-37 upset victory in Hershey last week to claim the sport’s ultimate prize.

For his role in steering the ship and staying the course while guiding the Lions to their first state title in school history and an overall record of 29-2, Bennett is the 2025 Pittsburgh Union Progress girls basketball Coach of the Year. All coaches in the WPIAL and City League were considered for the award, which was selected by the PUP sports staff.

“I’m still a little bit in shock,” Bennett said about the state championship victory. “Our kids did such a great job [last] Saturday. I couldn’t be more proud of them. They played so hard. When they made mistakes, they didn’t put their heads down. They went on to the next play and did such a great job.”

Diving deeper into the numbers, there are only a select few teams in WPIAL history that can match the dominance South Fayette displayed this season. Out of their 29 victories, the Lions won 27 games by double digits, including 23 wins by 20-plus points. Their five wins in the PIAA playoffs came by an average of 20.8 points per game, and only a meaningless last-second bucket by Archbishop Wood prevented them from picking up a 28th win by double-digit points in the state finals.

“One of our big sayings this season was, the only team in the state that can beat us is us. And I firmly believe that,” Bennett said. “We really try to make our practices tougher than games and really push our kids. We really condition them and push them hard in the fall to make sure they’re ready to play 32 minutes.”

There’s no doubt South Fayette had a star-studded lineup this season, with juniors Haylie Lamonde, Juju Leroux and Ryan Oldaker each averaging double figures and sophomore point guard Lailah Wright averaging 9.5 ppg. But the Lions didn’t have a single player scoring more than 15 ppg, instead relying on a balanced offensive attack paired with a suffocating full-court press defense.

“The kids really enjoy the way we play, being up-tempo and getting to run,” Bennett said. “I tell the kids, ‘If we never have to set up an offensive set, that’s what we want.’ We try to score within the first 10 seconds of holding the ball. Sometimes we take bad shots doing that, but I’ll live with that if our kids give the same effort defensively.

“They’ve bought into that. It’s an exciting way to play for us, and the kids really enjoy it.”

Of course, every great coach is only as good as his assistants, and Bennett has an all-star staff at his disposal in assistant coaches Garret Del Re, Sarah Selep and Olet Stasko. Stasko is also the Lions’ softball coach, and she didn’t mind pulling double duty during the team’s unforgettable state playoff run.

“I am very, very blessed to have great assistant coaches,” Bennett said. “They do so much and don’t get nearly enough credit. They’re a big reason for our success.”

A 1995 graduate of Freedom High School, Bennett’s coaching journey began in the early 2000s as a seventh grade coach at Trinity. The following year, he served as the Hillers’ ninth grade coach, then Bennett joined longtime coach Danny Holzer’s staff as a ninth grade coach at Upper St. Clair after getting a job as a teacher in the district.

From there, Bennett transitioned to Hopewell as a boys assistant under Mark Javens. He had an eight-game stint as interim head coach with the Vikings before moving on to Seton LaSalle, where he spent three years as girls head coach. While there, Bennett took the Rebels to a pair of WPIAL championship games, although they had to settle for silver medals both times.

Bennett then spent one year as boys head coach at South Side before heading back to Upper St. Clair as a boys assistant under Holzer. He stuck with the Panthers for several years before taking the job at South Fayette in 2018, a marriage that has turned out to be a match made in heaven.

“Just seeing the pure joy on the kids’ faces and the people in that room [after the state title game] — we went for five months, six days a week,” Bennett said. “We faced adversity several times this year, but we always had each other’s backs. This group was just something different.”

In seven years at the helm, Bennett has won 134 games, three WPIAL titles and one state title, with four WPIAL championship appearances in a row — and counting — and a pair of PIAA championship appearances on his resume. Now, he has a PUP Coach of the Year award to add to his collection — and the scariest part is, the Lions could be even better next year.

“We’ve obviously been pretty successful the last few years,” Bennett said. “But to win a state championship, I never thought in my wildest dreams as a coach that I would get this opportunity. It was just such a special moment on Saturday night. I’m still a little bit in shock and just proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish as a coaching staff and with the great kids that we have.”