As everyone knows by now, Gilmour coach Bob Beutel is closing in on his 600th victory.
He is currently at 596 going into Wednesday's game against Aurora.
One of the first questions I had when I heard the news was where does that put Beutel in the OHSAA girls basketball state record book?
When I checked the OHSAA list, I realized right away the all-time coaching wins list was not correct. Beutel is currently on the list at No. 12 with a record of 502-160 which he compiled while at North.
To see if I could obtain updated records, I e-mailed Tim Stried, the Director of Information Services for the OHSAA.
Stried is always helpful in answering any questions I have regarding Ohio high school sports.
He said the list is not always 100 percent accurate because the OHSAA relies on schools to update their coaches records from year to year.
Well, that explains a lot.
Now I know when I write my upcoming stories on Beutel and his 600th win, I can't list him as the No. (blank) coach in the all-time wins category because my information would be inaccurate.
I checked the records again today just for the heck of it and noticed a disclaimer at the top that I did not read the first time around.

It reads as follows:

The following state records should be regarded as "unofficial." They were compiled by the Ohio High School Athletic Association through information received by OHSAA member schools, coaches, athletic administrators and media members.
If you have information that you believe should be included in these records (additions, deletions or corrections), it may be received by the OHSAA one of three ways:
1.) Submitted by an OHSAA member school athletic administrator on official office letterhead;
2.) Submitted by a media member on official office letterhead;
3.) Submitted to the OHSAA by a fan with documentation verifying the validity of the record. Accepted would be items such as copies of newspaper clippings, copies of scorebooks or copies of yearbooks.

As a reporter, you always want to keep your facts straight. You want to get records right, scores, times, etc. So this is a little frustrating to me. But I will have to overlook it for now.
We may have to wait until the end of the school year for updated records since they are not always updated during the season.
For now, I'll do my best to work around it.
Here's what I will stick with for now: According to the current records, Beutel would be the seventh coach in Ohio girls basketball history to clinch his 600th win.
That's a fact.

-Theresa Neuhoff Audia