— In the first few days of his retirement, Fred Ferri Jr. has had to deal with a root canal, getting new tires on his vehicle and replacing a stove at his home.

“And I promise you it (replacing the stove) wasn’t because of use,” he says ruefully.

If his retirement progresses at this pace, he may want to return to the classroom, or at least to the court.

The latter will, in fact, occur this weekend, as Ferri — who retired this spring after a 30-year basketball coaching career at Oak Hill High School — will be back on the hardwood to coach one more time.

He will join Tug Valley’s Garland Thompson in guiding the South Cardinals against the North Bears (coached by Fairmont Senior’s Dave Retton and Braxton County’s Rick Frame) in the 2012 North-South All Star Basketball Classic. The event, presented by the West Virginia Athletic Directors Association, will be played on Friday, June 15 at the South Charleston Community Center. A free throw competition will get the evening’s activities started at 6 p.m., followed by a 3-point event at 6:15 p.m., a slam dunk competition at 6:30 p.m., and the game itself at 7:30 p.m.

The South roster includes Wyoming East’s Marcus Schofield and Taylor Smith and Woodrow Wilson’s Cam Shannon.

Ferri has coached in the Scott Brown Classic and a Coalfield-Cardinal all-star game in the past, but he’s never been on the bench for the North-South affair. He’s anticipating this weekend’s game.

“It will be fun,” he said. “It’s an honor to be asked.

“It will be fun to coach with Garland Thompson and to coach against Rick Frame and Dave Retton, as well as coaching some of the best players in the state.”

In Frame, Ferri will be facing “one of the best friends I’ve made in coaching.”

“Rick and I are real good friends,” he continued. “I think Rick is one of the best coaches in the state.

“I’ve always been impressed with what he’s done.”

In his three decades as either an assistant or as head coach for Oak Hill, Ferri was around his share of good basketball players, some indeed among the best in the state. He was assistant when the Red Devils of coach Jim Lilly won the Class AAA state title in 1984 and 1989, and he was head coach when the Devils added two more state championships — this time in Class AA — in 2010 and 2011.

“It was a privilege to coach at Oak Hill,” said Ferri. “We’ve had three (state) players of the year and eight or nine Division I kids.

“We’ve always had good teams, good players, and that’s why you’re successful. Sometimes the best coaching you do is to leave them alone.”

After serving as an assistant to Lilly from 1982-83 to 1988-89 and Ron Lewis from 1989-90 to 2000-01, Ferri’s teams compiled a record of 184-95 in 11 seasons with him as boss. “I just took what Coach Lilly taught me, and what Coach Lewis taught me (and built on that),” he said.

The 2009-10 squad posted a 21-4 record and vanquished Wyoming East 55-45 in the final. In the next season, the Red Devils were 25-3, including a 57-48 decision over Scott to secure the second straight championship.

This past season, Ferri’s squad was denied a chance at a third straight crown when it fell 61-42 to Bluefield in the Region 3 co-final to finish 15-9.

Looking back, Ferri said, “When you win your first championship, that’s a big deal. And not many people gave us a chance (to win the second one in 2010-11).”

Going back much further, he recalled the Red Devils’ Class AAA state title run in 1984, only his second season as an assistant.

“In 1984, we just blew through the state tournament. Coach Lilly and Coach Lewis were sitting around talking about how they knew we’d win. I told them I wish you all would have told me because I was nervous. I had absolutely no idea how good those guys were.”

— E-mail: skeenan@register-herald.com