Mountain Ridge High School Men's Basketball
Coaches
Varsity Head Coach - Craig Marcus
Craig Marcus graduated from Arizona State University in Tempe, Az. He began coaching in basketball in 2001, he has coached 22 years of high school basketball, and 2 seasons of high school football. Prior to taking over the Mountain Ridge Men's Program in 2020, Coach Marcus was the head varsity coach at Verrado High School. He also spent some time as the varsity assistant coach at Liberty High School for 7 years where he helped change the culture and identity of the program leading to their first ever region championship in 2017 with a trip to the Final Four in the state playoffs and a second straight region championship in 2018.
Coach Marcus teaches PE/Health, Weight Training and Sports Psychology, he is a HUGE Sundevils and Cubs fan. When not coaching basketball he enjoys watching movies, and hanging out with his wife, their kids and of course their dogs.
Varsity Assistant Coach - Brandon Dixon
Coach Dixon was born and raised in Peoria, AZ graduating from Liberty High School where he played 3 years of varsity basketball. He went on to play collegiate at Benedictine University. He obtained his bachelors in psychology in 2019.
After moving back from Colorado he began his coaching career at Mountain Ridge High School in 2021. Coach Dixon is a fan and student of the game who has a passion for sharing his knowledge to the next generation of basketball players.
Freshman/Sophomore Head Coach - Stephen Mathes
Stephen Mathes is originally from Western New York. He attained his Bachelor's in History at The University of Buffalo and his Master's in Differentiated Instruction from Canisius College. Steve is a graduate of Grand Island Senior High School where he lettered in Boy's Basketball his Junior and Senior Year. While in Buffalo he served as the Director of Basketball Operations for the Buffalo Salvation Army organizing youth development camps and leagues. After moving to Phoenix he served for five years as Athletic Director and both the Boys and Girls Basketball Coach at Maurice C. Cash Elementary in the Laveen Elementary School District. Last year he coached the Junior Varsity teams at Mountain Sky Junior High in the Washington Elementary School District.
Coach Mathes teaches 10th/11th grade history at Mountain Ridge. He is a fan of the Buffalo Bills, Buffalo Sabres, Buffalo Bulls, Arizona Sun Devils, Phoenix Suns, and Arizona Diamondbacks. When not coaching or teaching he is spending time with his wife, watching sports, or attempting to play golf.
Junior Varsity Head Coach - Jason Girnius
Jason Girnius is originally from New York where he grew up, attended high school, and went to College. Coach Girnius attended the State University of Albany from 1990 - 1995. He majored in Business and Math, and played basketball during his 5 years as a Great Dane. Coach Girnius moved to Arizona during the summer of 1995 and has been here ever since. This is his 26th year as a high school math teacher. Coach Girnius was at Desert Mountain high school in Scottsdale for 7 years where he taught Math and coached basketball and this is his 19th year at Mountain Ridge where he has teaches math and coaches basketball. His wife Danielle is a school psychologist in the Deer Valley Unified School District and he has three wonderful children. Madison is 20 years old and a junior in college, Braedon is 19 years old and graduated from Mountain Ridge, and Ethan is 15 years old and starting his sophomore year at MRHS.
Freshman/Sophomore Volunteer Coach - Ed Eberth
Coach Eberth grew up in Kansas and played basketball all 4 years of high school. He began coaching over 40 years ago and has been a volunteer coach at Mountain Ridge since 2013. Prior to coaching at Mountain Ridge he coached his son Drew’s club team which included Coach Taylor and the rest of the seniors from the Mountain Ridge team that reached the Elite 8 in the 2013 state tournament. Coach Eberth retired from Honeywell in June of 2020 and since then has been spending most of his free time helping the coaching staff during the season and the spring/summer/fall camps. When not coaching (or playing) basketball, Ed enjoys golfing, water skiing, spending time with his family and traveling with his wife.
