Stranahan’s Shuler, Calvary’s McSweeney are Broward Boys’ Basketball Coaches of the Year

Stranahan and Calvary Christian Academy solidified themselves as boys’ basketball dynasties this year. Now their coaches are the Miami Herald’s Broward County Boys’ Basketball Coaches of the Year.

Edward Shuler, after abruptly taking over as the Mighty Dragons’ coach last year, led Stranahan to its third state title in four years and did it without a single obvious Division I prospect on the roster. Cilk McSweeney led Calvary Christian to its second straight state championship — and third since 2017 — and now will try to lead the Eagles to a national title.

Shuler is the Broward County Boys’ Basketball Coach of the Year for Classes 7A-5A and McSweeney is the Broward County Boys’ Basketball Coach of the Year for Classes 4A-2A.

“I made the main goal winning a national championship,” McSweeney said, “so that got us focused.”

Right after Calvary Christian won its second state championship in 2021, McSweeney said the Eagles’ goal would be a national title in 2022 and he has them on course, ranked No. 3 in the nation by MaxPreps with a pair of wins against top-10 teams already on their resume.

On Thursday, Calvary Christian will face No. 19 Sidwell Friends from Washington, D.C., in Tampa to open up the State Champions Invitational. With at least six Division I recruits on their roster and a Class 4A title in hand, the Eagles are the top seed in the national tournament, which will be held at Berkeley Preparatory School.

By emphasizing a national championship and putting together a national schedule, McSweeney was able to get his star-laden roster — four players are four-star prospects in the 247Sports.com composite rankings — to sacrifice stats for wins.

“A lot of coaches pray and wish, and hope and so many of them do illegal activities to get players into their program. And that’s their goal — I’ve got to get this player — but it’s easier said than done,” said McSweeney, who also led Calvary Christian to its first state championship in 2017. “Every parent, every AAU coach who they deal with, every handler that controls their decisions, every family member, uncle all have an idea of how they should play and what they should be in my system, and this and that, so it’s managing expectations.”

Shuler was also a two-time state champion before this year, serving as the top assistant coach to former coach Terrence Williams when Stranahan won its first two state titles in 2019 and 2020. Williams, however, was arrested in 2020 for defrauding the government’s COVID-19 relief fund and Shuler had to take over shortly before the 2020-21 high school basketball season began.

The Mighty Dragons went just .500 in Shuler’s first season at the helm. A year later, they were state champions again.

“Just keep the same blueprint,” Shuler said. “The Stranahan system -- it’s getting up and down. We’re going to play defense from end to end and that’s the way we practice. We practice hard to make the games easy and that’s my motto.”

No Mighty Dragon scored even 13 points per game, yet Stranahan blew out St. Petersburg, 64-40, in the Class 5A championship after winning the 5A semifinals on a putback at the buzzer. It was a fitting way to cap the season for the Mighty Dragons, who won two other games on putback buzzer-beaters: Stranahan doesn’t win with star power, but with relentless effort on the glass a defense that often leaves opponents frustrated.

On the way to the final four, the Mighty Dragons beat Norland, led by four-star shooting guard Marcus Allen, in the Region 4-5A championship and won a district featuring a Suncoast team led by three-star small forward Nate Sasser.

“Norland was whacking everybody over the summer. ... On the other court, I’m looking at Suncoast and they have this big kid coming in, and I’m like, Oh, that’s in our district,” Shuler said. “Our kids—they just know how to win.”

This story was originally published April 6, 2022 at 12:00 PM.