Balancing family, basketball keeps Santoro running

Being busy can be a good thing. But when you're forced to make a choice, not everything will be perfect. That's the dilemma Bellevue girls basketball coach Kory Santoro has faced multiple times this season and, ultimately, he has had to sacrifice. Santoro was quick to give a ton of credit to his wife, Betsy. She has been able to be there in times where Kory wasn't able to make it. "That's been tough because I'm big into my family," Santoro said. "I love my family and they're the most important things to me. My wife does a heck of a job of running our family. She's very good at it. She's helped with a lot of that and traveling herself. I've done the best I can, but it's not been where I wanted it to be. "That stuff means a lot to me. But, I've got a job to do here and my kids understand that." The most recent time came Saturday when the No. 1 Lady Red were playing in the Division IV state semifinals for the first time in program history. His youngest daughter, Cory, had Senior Day for Canisius University in Buffalo, New York. He hated to do it, but Kory had to miss a big moment in Cory's basketball career. "Deep down, I want to be in both places," Kory said. "But, that's not reality. I was coaching a state semifinal game and that's the way the schedules fell. She knows I love her more than anything and I'll always support her." Not only does Cory still play, but Casey Santoro had her Senior Day at Florida Gulf Coast University in February. She still has a year of eligibility remaining, but Kory, Betsy and a lot of the Santoro family made the trip to Florida. The oldest Santoro daughter, Carly, is an assistant coach at Dublin Coffman under former Napoleon coach Corey Kreinbrink. The two teams scrimmaged before the season started. "I'm always on the phone talking to them," Kory said. "I've been down to a few games this year, but that's the chance you take when you become a head coach. You're going to have to make some tough decisions sometimes. I had to do that and I'm OK with that." The oldest of the Santoro children, Jalen, is the head football coach at Perkins. With the Pirates making a deep run in the postseason, Kory had to miss part of Perkins' win over defending state champion-turned-rival Cleveland Glenville in the state semifinals. The Lady Red played a non-league road game at Carey near the end of November and with not being able to move the game, Kory coached before hustling to Clyde High School to catch the end of the game and Jalen's biggest career victory to date. "He's my little buddy," Kory said of Jalen. "My daughters always say he's the favorite. I just laugh, but I tell them he is my favorite because he's my only son. I think he's an incredible coach and he's great with kids. What he's been able to do at Perkins is incredible. He's got a knack for doing it." Even when Perkins played for the Division IV state football championship on Dec. 7, Kory first had to coach the Lady Red in a Sandusky Bay Conference game at Clyde. Once Bellevue came out on top, he was able to make the trip to Canton, sit back and watch his son coach for a state title. Perkins came up just short, but Kory is aiming to make sure the name Santoro is listed among state championship winning coaches for the 2024-25 school year. "Now we get to talk a lot about taking our teams to a state championship game," Kory said. "I know he lost a tough one, but we're hoping we can pull the trigger and finish."