Coach Nick Bosnic

Vern Benson, born and raised in Western Pennsylvania and a product of New Kensington, PA. He has loved the game of basketball most of his life. He has been around the game of basketball for a long time and learned some of his coaching strategies through coaching at college basketball camps such as Pitt, Duquesne, Robert Morris, Five Star, and Drill 4 Skill. After coming from a basketball town that produced many Division I and II basketball players, he wanted to become a coach. He has played and is coaching in the town that he loves. He has a total of 15 years coaching basketball experience, which includes AAU basketball, Penn State-New Kensington, and as the head coach at his ala mater, Valley High School. He has coached some of the better players from Western Pennsylvania at one time or another through AAU venues, summer basketball camps and on his high school team. As a member of winning programs through high school and college gave him an appreciation for what it takes to be a winner. As a member of Penn State New Kensington’s coaching staff, they won the conference championship and went on to win the PAC state title. He guided his Valley Vikings to the quarterfinals this year with a record of 20-6. He turned the Valley program around in his third year of coaching after the program was down for several years. He built Valley back to a promising program by hard work and persistent dedication.

Benson is a graduate of Allegheny Community College and Point Park University with degrees in Engineering Science, Mechanical Engineering, and Education. He was a member of the Valley High School 1979 State Championship team and played at Penn-State New Kensington for two years. He is married to Dee Dee and they have two children: Ian (16) and a sophomore guard on the Valley team and Kaila (13) will be a member of the Valley girl’s varsity team next season as a freshman.