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Jalen Price, left, was named Karns City’s new boys basketball head coach Monday, June 16, 2025. Ava Kidder\/Submitted photo<\/p>\n
When Jalen Price patrols the Karns City<\/a> sidelines beginning in November, he\u2019ll be one of the youngest head coaches in Western Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n The 2019 Armstrong High School graduate was named the Gremlins\u2019 next boys basketball coach Monday during Karns City\u2019s school board meeting, taking over for Zach Kepple, who led the program since 2021.<\/p>\n What Price lacks in years he aims to make up for with work ethic.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s been a ton of time, effort and dedication,\u201d he said Thursday. \u201cI knew I wanted to become a head basketball coach (early on).<\/p>\n \u201cAll of my coaches I\u2019ve had in the past as a player have always credited me \u2026 for being a coach on the court.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Related Article: Meet Butler County\u2019s boys basketball player of the year, all-stars from the 2024-25 season<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Price played quarterback and was a four-year member of the varsity basketball team at Armstrong. He said he became the seventh WPIAL player to throw and rush for 1,000 yards each in the same season.<\/p>\n After graduating, he went straight into coaching. He was hired to lead Armstrong\u2019s junior high program in 2020 and assisted the varsity coaching staff at times.<\/p>\n He also started coaching AAU in the winter with Caveman Basketball.<\/p>\n He\u2019s eager to take over the program and has already met with his players a few times since being hired. He said he\u2019d heard about Karns City\u2019s \u201ctight-knit\u201d community and how it \u201c(rallies) around their sports teams\u201d for a while, before applying for the job, and feels it\u2019s a similar vibe to Armstrong.<\/p>\n \u201cI knew I had to give myself an opportunity to work with those kids,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cI just want the Karns City community to know I\u2019m extremely excited to get going with these kids. \u2026 We absolutely appreciate all the support they do for us.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Related Article: How Karns City\u2019s Shane Peters reached 1,000 points as Gremlins chase postseason berth<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Price is the third boys basketball coaching hire this cycle in Butler County. Joe Lafko<\/a> replaced Alan Bauman at Knoch in May, and Jake Jewart was named Moniteau\u2019s next coach<\/a>, replacing his father, last week.<\/p>\n Price takes over a program that had several underclassmen \u2014 Cole Johnston, also a football talent, and Owen Kauffman are among them \u2014 last season. But the Gremlins are losing dominant post presence and 1,000-point scorer Shane Peters<\/a> to graduation.<\/p>\n \u201cI think the No. 1 goal is to win,\u201d Price said. \u201cI said this to the kids, ultimately the goal is to have fun \u2026 and (people) have fun when they\u2019re winning.\u201d<\/p>\n After already studying film of the team, he intends to bring an up-tempo offense to the Gremlins, which will also require sound defense and rebounding to kickstart the offense in transition. Price said he intends to spend the summer and offseason building relationships with the players, identifying kids in school who may want to join the program and teaching the team his terminology. Karns City has a few more weeks left in the Redbank Valley summer league, as well.<\/p>\n