4 Top High Schools With a New Head Coach

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In the last few years we have seen some of the best programs have a change of leadership. We are going to take a look at four programs that have seen change at the top and either maintained excellence or have taken the program to new heights in the past few seasons.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Edmond Santa Fe-</strong> Legendary coach, Will Ethridge, stepped down after 30 seasons as head coach. He also started up the program and both metaphorically and quite literally built it into one of the winningest programs in the state. Drew McCarty has since taken the torch and ran with it. Increasing wins each of the last three straight seasons. 19, 20 and 22 respectively. He also won a thrilling 5 set match against Mustang last year in the regional championship to punch his ticket to state! There has been nothing but good things said about Coach McCarty and the program he is building. My prediction is he goes one step further this season at state behind awesome players like [player_tooltip player_id='752599' first='Caryl' last='Womack'], [player_tooltip player_id='750956' first='Samaria' last='Kinyanjui'], [player_tooltip player_id='297161' first='Kalli' last='Fox'], and [player_tooltip player_id='752540' first='Nayeli' last='Dragoo-Crawford']. They have the youth and depth to keep it rolling for years to come.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Coweta-</strong> Janette Vele took over the Tiger volleyball program when long time coach, Tony Ramos, stepped down. She racked up 24 wins last season, which was 7 more than the previous season, and was 1 set away from getting the road upset to get to state. She had a talented senior class in players like [player_tooltip player_id='240334' first='Olivia' last='Brand'], Baylee Belt and Mattea Holm. Coweta has been a mainstay at the 5A level and a constant challenger for their conference title in the Metro Lakes. Janette has made a few pit stops as a coach and all of them see success early. Lets see what this upcoming season has in store for her and the Tigers!</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Booker T. Washington-</strong> When former head coach, Codi Lee, moved over to Jenks to help the boys program take off, Taylan Nero stepped into the role of leader. Nero was a standout volleyball player herself and is now making a name for herself as a coach. She took over 3 years ago and has a combined 69 wins in that time frame. Each season they have added wins to the total. Can they beat the super impressive 30 wins that they put up last year? With one of the best players in the state in [player_tooltip player_id='286287' first='Arriana' last='Brown'], anything is possible. Coming off back to back state runner up finishes will have them hungrier than ever.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Bartlesville- </strong>Jen Ward had quite a successful run as head coach. Assistant coach Andrew Blain took over and made an immediate impact on the program. The Bruins have also seen nothing but growth in their skills but also the win column. They have increased their win total from 19 wins to 30 in the past three years. Andrew Blain is doing amazing things both as a volleyball coach and as a person. His players love him and fight hard in every match. The graduation of All State selection, [player_tooltip player_id='296230' first='Emry' last='Brown'], will no doubt hurt but I would fully prepare for others to step up HUGE this season</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->