Bell resigns as Canon-McMillan basketball coach

When Rick Bell registered his 400th win as a basketball coach, the Bethel Park native mentioned among many things that when he passed away, he hoped his epitaph would read, “he made a positive difference” in this world.
As he announced his retirement from coaching on April 16, the addendum “devoted dad” should be added because Bell is stepping away from his position as Canon-McMillan floor boss specifically to watch his son play college basketball. R.J. Bell is a sophomore on the Geneva College team. He has been voted a captain for next season.
“One of the things I vowed to my family and Canon-Mac is that if I could do both (watch R.J. and coach), then I would do both,” Bell said. “I’m not going to cheat him or the people here.
“The next two years I’m going to watch my son play,” Bell said. “I’m just going to enjoy the heck out of watching him these next two years.”
For the last 31 years, though, Bell has enjoyed a heck of a coaching career. Bell coached 18 years at Canon-McMillan and 13 at Peters Township, amassing a 428-316 record.
Under Bell, Canon-McMillan set a single-season record of 21 wins in the 2017-2018 season. In the past five seasons, the Big Macs compiled a 74-45 record and qualified for the WPIAL and PIAA playoffs three times. This winter, Bell guided the Big Macs to their first appearance in the Final Four of the WPIAL tournament.
“Rick runs one of the best programs, from top to bottom, that I have been around,” said CM athletic director Frank Vulcano, Jr. “In my five years at Canon-McMillan, Rick has taken this program to heights that have never been seen in school history.
“He has been a great mentor to all of his assistants and a great role model to his players throughout his years,” Vulcano added.
Bell, 54, took a circuitous route to his career.
After a two-year stint as a starter for Red Ryan, where he played at the Pitt Fieldhouse and the former Civic Arena as Bethel Park advanced deep into the playoffs in the early 1980s, reaching the district and state semifinals, Bell earned his college degree from the University of Pittsburgh in 1988.
He served as a graduate assistant at Pitt, did a stint at St. Francis in Loretto and spend two seasons as an assistant girls’ basketball coach at his alma mater.
While doing his student-teaching at Peters Township, however, the door opened to coaching boys’ basketball opened when he joined Rick Stellfox’s staff. When Stellfox resigned, Bell, at 22, became one of the youngest head coaches at the time. In 13 seasons, he guided the Indians to 11 WPIAL, five PIAA playoff appearances, and six section banners. Bell owned a 223-103 record at Peters Township.
Bell, who resides in North Strabane with his wife, Mary, and daughter, Angela, will continue to teach social studies and psychology at Canon-McMillan.