He graduated as a Defiance Bulldog, he coached the Bulldogs to a boys state basketball title; and now Kirk Lehman has submitted his retirement-resignation as coach of his hometown team.The Defiance City Board of Education accepted the resignation at their meeting Wednesday evening, with Lehman completing 37 years in education.Coach Lehman spent the past 17 years coaching Bulldog basketball, and racked-up 428 wins, with stops at Tinora, Rossford, and Defiance.In his younger days, Kirk was a 1,000 point scorer at Defiance, helping to lead the Bulldogs to back to back regional appearances in 1976 and 77.
He would go-on to play hoops for Ohio University in the MAC.
And then he returned to northwest Ohio to embark on his highly successful coaching career, with his first head job at the helm of the Tinora Rams..He even had his own cheering section at Defiance home games- Kirk’s crazies.
There’s no doubt the pinnacle for Coach Lehman was taking the Bulldogs to a state boys basketball title in 2015, beating Cleve. C. Catholic in the title game.