Staff file photo / Brian Yauger. Bristol’s Kaiden Kohler drives the ball during a conference matchup with Badger last season.

BRISTOLVILLE — Few teams in the area have the storied tradition that the Bristol basketball program has.

Under coach Craig Giesy for the past 13 seasons, the Panthers finished with a 242-67 record, a pair of district titles, and 11 league titles.

So when Giesy left the program earlier this year, it left a void that will be hard to fill.

Thankfully for the Bristol faithful, there’ll be a sense of familiarity in the program as assistant Jeff Thompson has taken the reins.

Thompson, who spent the last seven years on Giesy’s staff, was the girls basketball coach at Champion for 16 years, and spent the decade prior as the girls coach at Bristol.

The theme for Thompson going into his first stint with the boys program is simple — “If it ain’t broke…”

“I’m good friends with Craig. Hell, Craig was a student of mine when I used to teach there,” Thompson said. “I’m great friends with Craig, and I get asked all the time, ‘What’s going to be different?’ My response is that you don’t fix what isn’t broken. We’re going to be doing a lot of the different things that we’ve been doing over the last number of years, but as the head coach, you just kind of tweak things to how you like it, and you change a little bit with your personnel. That’s the way I look at this season.”

Personnel-wise, the Panthers are in a solid spot.

Bristol is shaping up to be a deeper team, especially in the newly-formed Division VII.

With a lineup that could extend as deep as 13 players, Bristol also returns some of its high-end talent from last year. While losing Mikey Burbach to graduation is a big loss, the cupboards are not bare for the Panthers.

Kaiden Kohler, the team’s second-leading scorer, returns to the program this season, along with fellow three-year starters, Jack Berry and Croc Thorp. Parker Gall, Colt Berry, and Seth Miller each return with a lot of experience. Three players who didn’t play last year, but have experience within the program are all returning as well, with Diesel Williams, Michael Sponsler, and Trevor Mendenhall each coming back for the Panthers this year. Add in a promising crop of freshmen, and things are optimistic in Bristolville.

While no one can replace the impact Burbach had, the depth of this Panthers team is going to be a sizable asset this year.

“Mendenhall is 6-foot-5, he can control the boards, and he handles the ball decent for a kid his size,” Thompson said. “Even the Church kid coming back is 6-foot-2, but the biggest thing that I think is important for us, is just the overall depth that we have. Our goal, and the style we’re playing is basically the same thing that Craig did last year with our style of play. We’re gonna play anywhere from 10 to 13 guys and we’re gonna try to press, and we’re gonna basically just wear you out. Our style of play is what we were last year. If three of your guys foul out, and three of our guys foul out, we’re okay, because we have got our depth.”

The Panthers open the season on Friday, hosting McDonald.

As usual, the schedule for Bristol isn’t an easy one. Former Division IV (now VII) powerhouses McDonald and Kennedy are still on the slate, as well as games with Champion, LaBrae and a Heartland Christian team that ended the Panthers’ run last season.

Pair that with a league schedule Thompson describes as “underrated” and the challenges don’t end for Bristol.

It’s all in preparation for the postseason, and to maintain the standard.

“The standard is the standard of Bristol,” Thompson said. “You expect to be playing for a league title. Our goal is to be playing in a district championship game, (win the league), and to go to regionals. I mean, regardless of who’s the coach, I don’t think that those goals change in our school.”