Senior Emily Rose will be heading into her final softball season with the Gophers this spring, having spent the last three years with previous head coach Kevin Hart. Rose will spend her final season with new head coach, Dave Anderson. Rose believes this will be a good change for herself and the program.
“I think it is going to affect me in a positive way because I know how much Dave strives for us to win,” Rose said.
Although Hart will still be assistant varsity coach, according to Rose having a new head coach will bring a new mindset to the program.
“There’s a whole new mind making all of the decisions, deciding who plays where, who bats when and who sits,” Rose said.
This year, there have been many varsity coaching staff changes within several sports, including softball, baseball, water polo, swimming and girls basketball.
According to Brian Baxter, director of Sports Psychology Northwest, when athletes go through a coaching change it affects individuals, the coach and the team overall. Baxter helps athletes work through the transition phase. To help athletes get over these problems, sports psychologists let athletes get their frustrations off their chest and listen with an unbiased opinion because a new coach can have many effects on athletes from learning new plays to coaching style.
Junior Maddy Lindhorst knows this first hand. As a sophomore on her first year of varsity last year, her head coach was Sarabeth Leitch, who is now a Wilson High School English teacher. This year, athletic director Todd Nagel has replaced Leitch as head girls basketball coach.
According to Lindhorst, Nagel becoming the new head coach was a positive change. Although Lindhorst does not feel like it affected her, a new coach has an effect on everyone.If you feel a new coach is a positive change, as a player you’re still learning a new coaching style and adjusting to a new person stated Baxter. “How one is affected and how they adjust to it varies from person to person,” Baxter said.
According to Lindhorst, a new coach did not affect her mentally, but it did change the way she had to run plays with the team.
Nagel is taking over a program with a history of losing seasons. And according to Nagel, the thing people are going to look at is how many games his team will win. This is his first year coaching a girls’ team, which is another thing to tack onto the challenge.
“They’re still trying to figure me out (and) I’m still trying to figure them out,” Nagel said.
In the aquatics department water polo obtained a new coach for the 2014 season. Tom Erickson replaced Sean Taylor as head water polo coach. Junior Gabe Hoffman feels as though Erickson coming into the program was an affirmative change for himself and the program. According to Hoffman water polo won more games this season than last.
“There was nothing he could do to hurt the program.” Hoffman said.
For Hoffman the transition phase between coaches was short for him. Erickson coached Hoffman when Hoffman was a sixth grader so he knew Erickson’s coaching style already.
Baxter states that as an athlete you have to adjust to many different thing, a new coach being one of them. Many of the things athletes have to adjust too are not in their control.
“Who your coach is is not in your control,” Baxter said. “In the end it will have nothing to do with your performance.”
