Two Wesco girls hoops coaches move on

Published 11:30 pm Monday, July 2, 2007

It seems a game of musical chairs is under way in the Western Conference.

Girls basketball coaches Jody Schauer and Branda Anderson have left old jobs for new ones, but neither of them ventured far.

Schauer, formerly head coach at Lynnwood High School, accepted June 22 the head girls basketball coaching position at Kamiak. He replaces Anderson, who in April resigned from Kamiak after the 2006-2007 season.

It didn’t take Anderson long to find a new position, though. She was hired Monday to be Monroe High’s head girls hoops coach. Anderson takes over at Monroe for longtime coach Alan Dickson, who in May resigned after guiding the Bearcats for 13 seasons.

Frequent coaching changes are common at the high school level, but lately it’s been more difficult than ever to keep track of the shuffling.

The latest barrage of changes keep Schauer in the Wesco South. But he jumped from Lynnwood, a Class 3A school where he coached for three seasons, to 4A Kamiak, which last season was 13-10, placed third in the division and advanced to the 4A Northwest District tournament.

“I think it’s a great opportunity for me. It’s a job where there’s so much of an upside – just a lot of potential there,” said Schauer.

He takes over a team whose leading scorer, Nicole Bozek (13.4 points per game in 2006-2007), graduated. The Knights return several experienced contributors, though, including 6-foot senior post Julia Church (5.1 ppg) and 6-0 junior guard Kelsey Patrick (6.7 ppg). Church and Patrick, who in February scored a season-high 27 points in a district-tourney victory over Shorewood, were recently chosen by teammates to be captains for the upcoming season.

Church was part of the selection committee that interviewed Schauer. The coach uses an ideal mix of intensity and encouragement, and he’s going to make the 2007-2008 season fun, Church predicted.

Schauer made a powerful first impression.

“I could tell right when he walked in the door (for the interview) and shook my hand that he would be a great fit for the program,” said Church.

Lynnwood was 6-57 in three seasons under Schauer, including a 4-17 record in his final season. He said his experience at Lynnwood was the most valuable of his 20-year coaching career. Deciding to leave “was really tough,” he said. “Probably the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do was tell my Lynnwood kids that I wasn’t coming back.”

As Schauer begins a new era at Kamiak, the team’s previous coach will do the same elsewhere.

After four seasons at Kamiak – three as head coach – Anderson landed at Monroe, which competes in the Wesco North. She’s excited to move past her tenure at Kamiak, which ended when she and school administrators determined they had different plans for the program’s future and agreed to go different ways, Anderson said.

She declined to identify specific issues. Kamiak athletic director Jack Kniseley did not immediately return a phone message seeking comment Monday.

At Monroe, Anderson joins a program that graduated a talented core of five senior starters but has long been one of the area’s most consistent winners. The Bearcats won the North championship last season and lost a winner-to-state, loser-out district-tourney game.

“I’m excited to … coach there, mostly because they have a great tradition of basketball that I can build on,” said Anderson, who plans to continue teaching at Kamiak for at least one more year.

It’s both exciting and intimidating, Anderson said, to take over at Monroe for Dickson, who regularly guided the Bearcats deep into the playoffs and led them to several impressive state-tourney appearances.

Anderson has what it takes to prolong the team’s history of success, Monroe athletic director Brett Wille said. Anderson, who played forward at Southern Illinois University, has the intelligence and enthusiasm the community needs, Wille added.

One of Monroe’s biggest graduation losses is point guard Sarah Morton, a University of Washington recruit. But Anderson, who this week plans to meet Monroe players for the first time, likes the group of returning student-athletes.

Said Anderson, “I think the whole team is pretty well-rounded.”