Following a Legend

I think the transition has been really smooth. We lost nine kids from our varsity last year and had four returners, so those kids already knew me from being here. I brought in a whole new staff except for one person and the kids have been very receptive of the new staff. I think it's a sign of the kids and the respect they have for us. The first year under coach Morrow I coached some of the offense, but after that it led into last year, where I was pretty much calling everything on the offensive side, including inbounds plays and press offense. Because she allowed me so much coaching, the kids are used to me and hearing me scream and those sorts of things, so that wasn't that difficult of a transition for them. I respect Coach Morrow and her letting me coach that much and allowing me to grow as a coach under her because it really prepared me for this situation. The kids really seemed to have bought in and we do a lot of the same things. We're starting to tinker a little with some things now just trying to change it to our personnel because we're not as deep as we've been in the past. Getting kids to really buy into the team concept...I think for all coaches, that's our most challenging thing at this point because you have kids playing so much AAU and they all have so many individual goals as far as playing in college and that kind of thing. So, to get them to sacrifice for the team is the biggest thing Coach Morrow taught me, because she is the master at that. I called in the three returners who played the most for us last year, Starr Crawford, Alisha Filmore, and Kristin Aldrige, and explained to those kids my goals and what they needed to do to help with that. Those three girls have really stepped in and not questioned what we've done and have bought in and the other kids are going to follow that. At Summit, the expectation every year is to go to the regional tournament. To be honest, when I took over the job, I didn't know if that was going to be a realistic expectation [this year], but once we got underway these sophomores have stepped up. Unfortunately we lost our top outside defender, sophomore Lauren Martin, to a torn ACL in the Houston tournament. But our expectations are the regional tournament again and then anything can happen. When you lose nine of 13 players - we graduated eight and lost one to Legacy in the realignment - I really thought we'd struggle more than we have. We've played a really tough schedule and the kids are battling and I'm really happy with that. The first part of the season actually went better than I expected. We opened with Duncanville and we were in the game. I think that night was the night that immediately I thought these sophomores are going to be a lot more varsity ready than I anticipated. We did some really good things. We went to the Houston tournament, a very competitive tournament and finished third. We also finished third in the Arlington tournament. I think making the playoffs and getting to the regional tournament would be a successful season. Winning district would be icing on the cake, but that's not the ultimate measure of success. I would have to say if we go two or three rounds in the playoffs, I'd be very happy. I hope to be coaching here for several years and sort of establishing my name here, and then eventually I hope to get into athletic administration. -