After finishing last season with one win, the women’s basketball team is searching for its fourth head coach in four years. Considering the 2025-2026 school year is already underway, the search for a new coach comes with more difficulty than usual.
NHS Athletic Director Brian Becker said that even though the school year has begun, he will still be using the application system that the USD 373 school district provides. Through this process, as well as reaching out to colleagues of his own, Becker said he has a few potential candidates lined up.
“We’re hoping in the next couple of weeks we’ll be able to interview some candidates and make a hire for the upcoming year,” Becker said.
Although a new hire can be expected soon in the fall, a full-time coach will most likely be hired in the Spring at the latest; Becker said the athletic department will most likely take the interim route.
“What our hope is is that we can find an interim for this year that will just kind of keep some stability with the program,” Becker said.
Becker said that the ideal hire would be a teacher or someone who works in the building. He also added that by January of the upcoming year, teaching positions could start opening up, and then potential long-term coaching candidates would be considered.
“We want to look for somebody that works well with kids, has a great knowledge of the game, is a good overall instructor, and someone very knowledgeable in that sport,” Becker said.
Becker said that in his 11 years as the NHS Athletic Director, this will be the sixth head coach in women’s basketball alone. While Becker said that women’s basketball is one of the hardest high school sports to coach and Newton’s league is difficult to compete in, he also holds students partly responsible for the lack of consistency in coaching.
“I think with girls’ basketball, it’s harder because not as many girls can commit or want to commit to playing basketball,” Becker said.
Although the administration is working to find qualified candidates, the impact of four different coaches has already been felt in the women’s basketball program. Newton junior Ana Lawrence said it’s difficult to grow as a team when there isn’t any trust in the coaching staff.
“We were not able to be just consistent throughout the whole season, because we always don’t know what’s coming next, because we always have a coach that quits,” Lawrence said.
Going into her third high school season, Lawrence has never had the same head coach two years in a row.
“You don’t know who to trust exactly, because I feel like coaches, especially the past couple of coaches we’ve had, they’re very different [in] how they coach, and so it’s hard to trust who’s saying the right thing,” Lawrence said.
Newton junior Naomi Koontz is also going into her third season playing for the women’s basketball team. Koontz said that she thinks the team chemistry has been affected by the inconsistency in head coaching.
“We have definitely become closer as a team because we can all bond together over the same experience,” Koontz said.
In addition to dealing with the pursuit of a coach, Lawrence said that public opinions from NHS students and citizens add to the problem of the poor culture surrounding women’s basketball.
“I think people will be the first to go and hate on us when we lose, but they’re not going to be the ones out there actually playing and working hard in the gym every single day,” Lawrence said.
Koontz said that when you’re in an experience like this, all you can do is try your best.
“I feel like you can’t really care what other people think about your team,” Koontz said.
As the winter season approaches and the Railers prepare for another season with their new coach, they encourage new players to try out.
“Even if you’ve never played, just try it. The team is fun. We want new people,” Lawrence said.
