MILESTONE VICTORIES

Sander, Gudith both reach 200 wins for NHS basketball programs

By Brad Emons

The month of February celebrated a couple of milestones when it comes to the girls and boys varsity basketball programs at Northville High School.

On Feb. 10, the Northville girls defeated Salem, 43-30, to give Mustangs coach Todd Gudith his 200th career victory. And just a week later, Todd Sander also chalked up his 200th in the Mustangs’ 48-42 win over Plymouth.

Ironically, both Gudith and Sander have carved similar paths in their coaching careers and have become the school’s longest tenured basketball coaches. Both are in their 15th seasons. Gudith finished the 2022-23 campaign 17-6 overall and now stands 203-123 overall. Sander is 204-126 overall after the Mustang boys wound up 14-12 on the year, capped off by winning their second straight district championship at home, by beating rivals Novi, Catholic Central and Canton -- all in overtime. They lost the regional semi-final to a tough Ann Arbor Huron team, 56-45, though the game was competitive until the final minutes.

Sander’s roots run deep at Northville where the 1999 grad played for the Mustangs. His brother Mark set the single game scoring mark with 44 points in 1995. And after Sander finished his high school career, he became the school’s JV coach for six seasons before succeeding Darrel Schumacher in the 2008-09 season.

“It’s special,” Sander said. “Northville is where I grew up. It is where I live. It’s where our business is, so there’s no other place where I’d rather coach than where we are right now.”

Sander guided Northville to a school-record 21-2 season in 2015-16 where the Mustangs won the KLAA Central Division title. His 2021-22 squad captured its first district championship since 1998.

He’s only had three losing seasons in 15 after former athletic director Bryan Masi elevated him to the varsity job.

“And I think like everybody – when you start – you think you have all the answers and then you soon find out that you don’t have many of them, so you go through a lot of growing pains,” Sander said. “And I look back and the things that were a big deal then, I think you just kind of learn kind of pick your battles. And really, it’s more great relationships with your players that determine your success more than necessarily your basketball knowledge. Once you win them over as people then it’s easier to win them over as their coach.”

Gudith, meanwhile, played basketball at Wyandotte High School and had coaching stints at his alma mater and Southgate High before becoming an assistant for three seasons under Pete Wright at Northville. Ironically, Schumacher and Wright remain on both Sanders’ and Gudith’s staff.

“When I graduated from high school, I decided I wanted to do teaching and coaching, I always wanted to stay and be a part of the game when playing wasn’t an option,” Gudith said.

“I refereed for about 15-16 years as well. Back before the (girls and boys) seasons were split you could do that . . . coach a little bit, coach middle school and go do a JV basketball game later that night.”

Under Gudith’s direction, the Mustangs have captured a regional championship (2016), along with four district and a pair of KLAA divisional titles.

Gudith and his wife Chelsea have two daughters, Gigi, 9, and Ayla, 1. He is a graduate of Wayne State and teaches eighthgrade science at Meads Mill Middle School.

His assistant coaches this past season included Grace Smith (varsity) and Wright, twins Kari Schmitt and Sara (Schmitt) Zinke (JV) and Alan Kruck (freshman).

Wright said Gudith’s dedication and commitment to the sport are what separates him.

“He works tirelessly on the strategies that go on, so every day he’s looking at new ways to do something different to try to get an advantage,” Wright said. “And he’s been that way all along. He’s constantly trying to get better . . . more knowledge, the latest and greatest things, and that kind of stuff is one of his best attributes.”

And Gudith is also a players’ coach in Wright’s eyes.

“He’s got a really good personality, he’s a middle school teacher, which is extremely helpful,” Wright said. “So, he’s had many of those girls in class, so he has a knowledge and a relationship with them from that. But he relates really well with the girls. They like his style of coaching, the way he treats them and that kind of stuff.”

Sander, a 2003 graduate of the University of MichiganDearborn, has spent 20 years in the financial services industry where he currently serves as president of Baldwin Capital Management, Inc. He also serves as the treasurer of the Basketball Coaches Association of Michigan and is a member of Christ Our Savior Lutheran Church in Livonia.

He relies heavily on a stable of assistant coaches that includes Ed Kritch, Sean Turner, Ali Metaj, Chris Jacobs and Schumacher at the varsity level, along with Bret Turner (head JV) and Chris Ackett (head freshman).

“We’ve been fortunate to have great continuity, which is kind of rare at the high school level these days,” Sander said. “The neat part about our staff is that we are friends off the court. It makes the wins that much more special but also a lot easier to get through the tough moments of any season.”

One of Sander’s best traits is his willingness to delegate various responsibilities to his staff, according to Kritch, who was Northville’s varsity girls head coach from 1984-91.

“His greatest attribute as a coach is that he has great confidence in his assistants and allows his assistants to have equal input to the final decision process as to what we’re going to do,” said Kritch. “I see some of my demanding personality in what he does, whether that’s with the players and demanding we’re going to do it our way.”

And what Sander brings to the table is just more than basketball. It’s also important to him to what happens off the court.

“I think he has a deep interest in players, not only as the players but also as the young adults that they are,” Kritch said. “And he takes a great interest on their development as students, young adults and college kids, and he stays with them. He helped them start their careers. He helped them with their employment. He brought them in as interns in his business.”

Away from the basketball court, Sander’s outlet is playing golf. He’s a 12-handicap and has played in 17 different states.

But basketball is his main passion. And it’s no secret that coaches have to be able to adapt with the times.

“I can’t say that a lot has changed in coaching,” Sander said. “It seems we have to wear different hats every single day. The actual coaching part hasn’t changed a lot. It’s lot more of the off-court stuff, the expectations and organization, the nonbasketball stuff is just taking more and more time.”

Sander said he considers himself a “basketball coaching lifer.”

“As long as I got that fire burning and that passion . . . I hope to be here as long as they’ll have me,” he said.

And Gudith has the same outlook when it comes to coaching basketball.

“I don’t know if it will be coaching or, who knows, if it’s something else down the road, but I’m going to be involved (in basketball) no matter what in some way, shape or form,” he said. “It’s a good experience all around. I just like being around kids honestly, just their attitude and effort, watch them grow and develop.”