Woodland Hills boys basketball coach Steve Scorpion, right, gestures to officials after one of his players went flying into the crowd Dec. 10 at Penn Hills High School. The Wolverines beat Penn Hills 51-44.
Steve Scorpion stepped onto the gym floor outside the locker room at Penn Hills High School and urged all of his players to leave the locker room together. The first-year Woodland Hills boys basketball coach is building a family.
That togetherness extends to the Wolverines’ players' relationship with Scorpion’s three children, who are six, four and two.
“My players, they love my kids,” Scorpion said. “It’s great. My kids come to practice, and Scoop (Smith) and (A)mere (Brown) are messing with them, and my kids are messing with those guys. They love it.”
Scorpion is grateful to be back as a varsity head coach. He was previously the coach at Franklin Regional. Scorpion had his job opened in 2021after he was involved in a car accident that was the result of his opioid addiction. He fell asleep at the wheel while driving on Route 22 and nearly died.
Scorpion is open about his longtime opioid addiction, which cost him his job as a coach and teacher. Scorpion went to rehab following the accident and is in recovery.
Scorpion’s return to the sidelines has seen early success. Woodland Hills is off to a 3-1 start, including a 51-44 win on Dec. 10 at Penn Hills.
The Wolverines, who were bumped up to Class 6A for this enrollment cycle, will have the challenge of trying to make the WPIAL playoffs while being in a section with big school heavyweights Butler, Fox Chapel, New Castle, North Allegheny, North Hills and Seneca Valley.
“We have a group of kids that want to come to practice,” Scorpion said. "They want to work. They want to get better. They wanted to be coached hard. When we have a group of kids like that we can do a lot of special things.”
The road back
Before the accident, Scorpion guided Franklin Regional to a 53-34 record over four years and helped the Panthers reach the WPIAL Class 5A championship game in 2018.
When Scorpion returned to coaching, he was hired as an assistant at Woodland Hills under Eugene Wilson two years ago. He was then at Kiski as an assistant to Corey Smith.
Scorpion hoped to get another opportunity to be a head coach.
“I was a finalist for a couple of jobs, and I didn’t get them,” Scorpion said. “I had to trust in the right time and the right place. It was going to work out. There were times when I said, ‘Man, am I going to get another chance?’”
“You know, we’re a family, a basketball family, but we’re also a whole family. Their parents, my kids, we’re one big family, and we’re going to do things together.”
-Steve Scorpion, Woodland Hills basketball coach
Wilson, who led the Wolverines to a 14-9 record two seasons ago, played with Scorpion at Pitt Johnstown. He was always impressed with Scorpion’s tenacity. Scorpion, a 6-foot guard, wasn’t afraid to mix things up on the court.
“I called him a pit bull,” Wilson said. “When we were at Pitt Johnstown, he was a small kid, and everyone things he is just going to shoot the ball. He would get in there and scrap."
Two years ago, Wilson was the coach at Woodland Hills and wanted to bring Scorpion back on as an assistant.
“I knew he was out there and wasn’t getting callbacks and interviews,” Wilson said. “It was a shame someone of his caliber couldn’t sit down and tell his story. I wanted to do what was in his best interest.”
While Wilson worked coaching with Scorpion, he was impressed with Scorpion's level of film study.
"He’s not interested in winning so much as the process of winning," Wilson said. "That’s what I loved about Scorp.”
Scorpion served as an assistant coach under Wilson and then as an assistant to Corey Smith at Kiski.
“I was grateful,” Scorpion said. “Being around good coaches made me a better coach.”
Winning at Woodland Hills
The Wolverines hope Scorpion can stabilize a program that has needed more consistency since Odell Miller left as coach following the 2018-19 season. Woodland Hills were 18-6 during Miller’s final year in charge.
The Wolverines had only had one winning season in the five seasons that followed. Jared Zych coached Woodland Hills to a 9-14 season last year and resigned after the season. Despite the Wolverines’ success on the gridiron throughout their history, winning in basketball hasn’t come as easily to the district.
Since the school opened in 1987, the Wolverines have finished with six or fewer wins 12 times. Woodland Hills has four 20-win seasons. Woodland Hills’ best season was during the 1994-95 school year, when the Wolverines finished 24-4. Woodland Hills last reached the 20-win mark in 2017-18, when the Wolverines finished 20-5.
Woodland Hills is 11-23 all-time in the playoffs and 407-449 overall. Wilson said that the problem has never been the lack of participation.
“My first tryout, we had over 50 kids there,” Wilson said. “For me, it wasn’t that big of a challenge. It wasn’t as hard as you would think. When you have someone who can relate to the kids, they can see things are done correctly. It’s easy to foster the right environment when the kids know you want to see them succeed.”
Tackling Class 6A
Scoop Smith led Woodland Hills with 16 points during the Wolverines’ win over Penn Hills. The Wolverines rallied from an 8-point deficit after the third quarter to tackle the Indians.
Scorpion was happy to see his team's progress. The Wolverines have only had the full team together for about 3.5 weeks because of the football team’s run through the WPIAL playoffs.
“I only had a few guys during the fall,” Scorpion said. “When you add in the football kids, it’s a whole new team. So we’re building. But this was a good step in the right direction because Penn Hills is always good. Coach Chris (Giles) does a great job.”
Scorpion is excited for the challenge ahead. He’s been building the blocks of his new family. Scorpion’s youngest son has already bought in.
“The only sweatshirt he wears is the Woodland Hills Wolverines sweatshirt every day to school, he loves it,” Scorpion said. “You know, we’re a family, a basketball family, but we’re also a whole family. Their parents, my kids, we’re one big family, and we’re going to do things together.”
Josh Rizzo is the publisher of Pittsburgh Preps and Colleges. Any comments, stories idea or suggestions can be sent to [email protected].
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