Wednesday, Sep. 16, 2009

Pasco has its hoops coaches

Pasco has finally hired its basketball coaches, exactly two months from the day winter sports begin practice.

Aaron Barcot, an assistant under former girls coach Steve Davis the past three seasons, takes over for him as girls head coach, while Winton Lytle replaces Chad Herron as boys head coach.

Both Davis and Herron moved over to Chiawana this year and will coach the Riverhawks programs.

Barcot applied for the job in mid-June and interviewed in July. He then went on vacation before the start of school, as did Pasco AD Le Burns. It wasn't until this week that the final hiring decisions were made.

During the process, Barcot ran Pasco’s summer programs and as the Bulldogs JV coach, he knows what he has coming back this winter — including Division I prospect and All-Area MVP Danielle Walter.

“It won’t be a tough transition,” Barcot said. “The painful thing is splitting the girls we had coming back (with Chiawana).”

Barcot also gets Janette Rodriguez back from the varsity squad and a quartet of seniors off the JV squad -- Brittney Jimenez, Alma Diaz, Missy Everson and Kendell Gilmore. Everson at 5-11 and Gilmore at 6-1 will definitely give the Bulldogs some height.

So while Barcot may look a little like Davis and could pass for his double on the telephone -- for a second, I thought it was Davis on the phone spoofing me while we talked -- don't expect the Bulldogs to look the same on the court.

"Our style of play will be different, and that's mainly dictated by the athletes we have coming back," Barcot said. "We'll play more zone this year."

Lytle, like Barcot, has never held a head coaching position, but he also has extensive experience as an assistant — first at Eustace High in Texas, and then last year with the Dayton girls program.

A 1979 Waitsburg graduate and the manager of fuel and transportation services for the Columbia County Farm Bureau co-op in Dayton, Lytle was planning on returning to Dayton and working with his daughter, Kalee, a freshman.

But the Pasco opening was too good for him to pass up -- and his daughter wouldn't let him.

“When you have a dream to be a head coach, you look for opportunities,” said Lytle, whose son, Miles, starred for Dayton last winter and now attends WSU. “Dayton had just hired two head coaches who’ll be there awhile, and this opportunity just arose. And Kalee has been very supportive. She wanted me to pursue this.”

Good luck to both. They're definitely behind the 8-ball to start the year, considering the late start they're getting -- especially Lytle, who didn't even get the chance to work with his players during the summer.

He acknowledged it could be a rough transition process.

“You’re right, there are some challenges,” Lytle said. “I’m having to put together a staff right now, and we don’t have a gym becaue of the roof repairs. But I refuse to look at those as negatives.

“I look at it as an opportunity to teach life skills. It doesn’t matter what career you’re in, sometimes you have your back against the wall and you just have to put out your best effort and move forward. I’m looking forward to the challenge to continue the tradition they have here.”

Til next time ...