Sam Snyder had become head basketball coach at McClain High School in the 1969-70 school year. Now, as the 1979-80 basketball season got under way, he had been employed in the same capacity at Hillsboro. Snyder had done a good job at McClain. His 1970 Tigers tied for the SCOL title, far surpassing most people’s expectations. His 1972 team captured an outright SCOL championship. They were one of the stronger teams in southeastern Ohio. The Tigers of 1975 lost in the regional championship game to Warsaw River Valley, the eventual state champions.