Staff file photo / Neel Madhavan. Canfield guard Drew Shapiro puts up a shot during the Cardinals’ regional semifinal game against Warrensville Heights last season.

Last season, Andy Vlajkovich returned to Canfield, his alma mater, to work as head boys basketball coach John Cullen’s top assistant.

This winter, Vlajkovich will move a seat over and succeed Cullen.

“I’m very honored to serve this program,” Vlajkovich said last Tuesday. “This program was very, very good to me and very, very good to a lot of people that I’m close with. Canfield basketball, I know it’s a cliche in a lot of circles, but there always was a family environment here when it came to the basketball program.”

This will be Vlajkovich’s fourth head coaching job; he previously led the Rootstown, Warren G. Harding and Canton McKinley boys basketball programs.

In 2023, after his fifth season coaching the Bulldogs, Vlajkovich resigned from his position and returned home to assist Cullen in his 30th and ultimately final season as the Cardinals’ head coach.

Vlajkovich, who played for Cullen and graduated from Canfield 25 years ago, said being an assistant after a decade as a head coach gave him a different point of view from the bench, literally and figuratively.

“I learned a lot about my own style from being a head coach for 14 years and being worried about every little detail and every little thing to all of a sudden becoming an assistant coach, where you are able to take a little bit of a step back,” Vlajkovich said. “Your players sometimes are better served with a little different perspective … and I think I have to keep that in mind going forward as I lead our team and lead our other assistants as well.”

The team Vlajkovich will coach in his first year at Canfield will be quite different from the team Cullen coached in his final season.

While only four players graduated, three – Dom Cruz, Sam Castronova and Tony Russo – accounted for nearly 60% of the Cardinals’ points a year ago. Additionally, Castronova and Russo were among the team’s best rebounders, and Cruz proved to be one of the most accurate 3-point shooters in the area.

Vlajkovich said he is not concerned if the 2024-25 team will be able to replace the offensive output of Russo, Cruz and Castronova.

“People asked me that all summer, but I think every program goes through this. It’s kind of natural,” Vlajkovich said. “The kid who didn’t score a ton as a junior, all of a sudden does as a senior. And the sophomore who was up and down, all of a sudden is rock solid.

“They’re also a little more accustomed to what we want to do offensively in year two. So I think that’ll increase our scoring. But really, the scoring increases come across the board.”

While the scoring source remains to be seen, Vlajkovich expects senior point guard Drew Shapiro will continue to orchestrate the Canfield offense and lead the Cardinals.

Shapiro averaged a team-high 5.9 assists per game last season and is just a few assists shy of becoming the program’s all-time leader, according to Vlajkovich.

“Drew is kind of the straw that stirs the drink,” Vlajkovich said.

Outside of Shapiro, the team’s primary ball handler, Vlajkovich said he wasn’t sure who exactly would complete the Cardinals’ starting lineup at Chaney.

“Right now, we’re looking at potentially six starters, so to speak,” Vlajkovich said. “I know you can’t do that, but we kind of look at it that way.”

The coach said Shapiro, fellow seniors Jake DeLisio, Ray McCune and Ben Weaver, as well as juniors Landon Shina and Bryce Roberts, comprise the expected top six, although the Cardinals feel comfortable reaching deep into their bench for production.

“We like our mix of young and old,” Vlajkovich said. “This is clearly a veteran-led team, but we’ve got some underclassmen that are really going to contribute.”

A benefit of the veteran leadership, Vlajkovich says, is the focus and energy they have brought to the team during the preseason.

“I think this group is as good of a practice group as I’ve ever had,” Vlajkovich said. “I told them the other day, we’ve had eight practices, two hours a practice and I’ve been upset with their effort for about 10 minutes out of 16 hours. There’s not too many coaches that can say that.”

Although it will be tough to match or top last season’s results – the Cardinals went 23-5, won the All-American Conference title and reached the regional championship game – Vlajkovich is determined to do just that.

“The goal is to get back to where we were last year, no doubt,” Vlajkovich said. “And the second goal is to extend that one or two games further than they were. … We’re returning seven of our top 10 from an elite-eight team. So they feel a little bit of pressure.

“And I kind of joked with them and said, ‘Guys, the pressure is on me. I’m the new guy. You guys just go play.’ But they know what’s possible with this team, and I want them to embrace that and understand that meeting expectations is a life skill that you’re going to have to do far after the ball stops bouncing.”