Cannon School boys’ basketball coach Che’ Roth is leaving the school, heading out of state
Che’ Roth, the winningest boys’ basketball coach in Cannon School history, is leaving to take a job at a Florida prep school.
Roth, 45, has coached at Cannon for 12 seasons. His teams won five Charlotte Independent Schools’ conference championships and won back-to-back N.C. Independent Schools’ state titles in 2020 and 2021.
Roth’s teams reached the NCISAA Final Four seven times and produced 15 all-time and 20 all-conference players.
“It’s right time,” Roth said. “An opportunity presented itself in a really good situation in Gainesville (Florida). ... I’m excited to build a program and sink my teeth into something new, a new challenge. I think our run at Cannon, we kind of hit our ceiling and I wanted to go to a place as committed to building a program as I am.”
At Cannon, Roth’s program produced 25 Division I college talent and two of his players were named as The Observer’s regional boys’ basketball player of the year: Jaden Bradley in 2020 and Jairus Hamilton in 2017.
Roth’s last team at Cannon finished 25-10 and reached the NCISAA 4A state semifinals. The team’s top player, Austin Swartz, an ACC recruit at Miami, was named CISAA conference player of the year for the second straight season.
Roth came to the Charlotte area after working as an assistant coach at Kennesaw State and the University of Missouri-Kansas City. He said he fell in love with the area while recruiting and decided to move his family here.
“I had kids 15 months apart,” he said, “and Kansas City is home for us and I would come through the Carolinas to recruit and I told my wife that if we get the chance to be somewhere, it should be the Carolinas. It feels like home. Charlotte is bigger than Kansas City but it’s easy to get around, and I wanted to be a head coach no matter the level. I was attracted to Cannon because I knew some parents who had kids there. They spoke highly of the school, but they said (Cannon wasn’t) committed to athletics, and said you can’t win there. I’m a competitive sucker, though, and here we are 12 years later.”
Roth said having longtime assistants like Domonick Reid and Jamal Mitchell helped the Cougars post at least 25 wins in four of his final five seasons at the school.
“I want to thank all the players for the impact they’ve made in our program, for allowing us to be a part of the journey, and thank the parents for their partnership through the years,” Roth said. “And to my assistant coaches for all the countless hours they invested in the gym, in scouting report films and long talks on the road or in (the hotel) lobby. It was the best group I’ve had. This has really been the ride of a lifetime and I’m appreciative to everybody involved in our program for 12 great years.”
