After winning back-to-back state championships in boys basketball, Heritage Academy announced on Thursday it has handed the keys to the program to a man with a horde of championship rings of his own – Josh Zeitz.
Zeitz, a seven-time MAIS state champion in both basketball and softball, said he is more than excited to be the next leader of Patriots basketball.
“(I’m) extremely fired up,” he said. “(I) competed against Heritage in the past and have a whole lot of respect for the school, the program and the administration and I couldn’t be more excited to be a part of it.”
Zeitz, a UAB graduate and 7-time MAIS Coach of the Year honoree, replaces Andrew Howell at the helm of Patriots boys basketball. Howell guided Heritage Academy to the Class 5A state championship in 2025 and the 2026 Class 4A Division III state crown. Howell left the Patriots for an assistant coaching job at Bayside Academy in Daphne, Ala., after spending the last three years at HA as head coach.
“I want to make sure that you know that we are extremely appreciative of everything that Coach Howell has done in the last three years,” Heritage athletic director Moe Black said. “He’s had some successful years with the two state championships he’s won, so he obviously continues to set the bar at a really high level so we knew that the replacement that we were making was going to be a tough one. Just super appreciative of what Coach Howell has done here and continuing the legacy of developing our kids so that they are ready to go forward.”
When the vacancy opened, Black said Zeitz’s name was immediately rushed to the top of the list as a potential candidate, and it didn’t take much deliberation to decide to bring him on board.
“He’s a great coach, he’s high energy and I think he is really going to fit the mold of exactly what we need here at Heritage, and he knows that the bar is set high in our expectations,” Black said. “Our kids have done really well the last several years with the state championships that we’ve won, and I think he is just as excited as we are to come in here and continue to keep that bar high.”
Zeitz spent nine years at Clinton Christian Academy and the last two years as head coach at Kirk Academy. At CCA he led the boys basketball and the girls fast-pitch softball programs to three state championships each and won one state title in girls basketball. He plans on bringing that championship pedigree – along with enthusiasm and a stalwart defense – to HA.
“I am a very energetic coach; the next time I sit down will probably be the first time at a practice or a game,” Zeitz said. “I expect my kids to play harder than the team we’re playing, so I try to coach harder than the coach I’m coaching against. We will be the most well-conditioned team in the MAIS, or try to be for sure, and play the most exciting brand of basketball. We will defend hard and rebound hard. I give my kids freedom on offense because defense and rebounding is what wins. Offense, some nights the ball goes in but some nights it just doesn’t, but you can defend and rebound every night. I like my kids to have some freedom on offense; share the ball but don’t be afraid to take a shot. Obviously it depends on the players, but generally I like to play up and down and pressure, whether it’s full or half court, then get out and run, and I think we’ll have the athletes to do that at Heritage.”
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