Andrews – The Lady Wildcats will have a new girls basketball coach next season, as Eric Duong has stepped down after four years at the helm.
He’ll remain an assistant coach for the boys varsity team as well as one of the athletic directors at Andrews Middle School. Duong thought he gave it his best shot, but admitted he struggled in one key area.
As the smallest school in the Big Smoky Mountain Conference, Andrews needs as many athletes as they can, and he didn’t see enough students wanting to play for the basketball team. With limited athletes, the team struggled at the varsity level. It also meant no junior varsity team to help younger players get acclimated to high school competition.
“I look in the stands, and I see more athletes sitting than I got dressed out in my jerseys,” Duong said. “Maybe in my head, I thought a fresh face and fresh voice (would help) to get athletes to come out and play.”
The Lady Wildcats have a 1977 state championship, the first year it was offered by the N.C. High School Athletic Association. However, they have had just one .500 season since 2006, and no winning seasons over the same timespan.
In conference play, Andrews has gone winless the past three seasons and lost 40 straight games against Big Smoky Mountain foes. All but one of those losses has been by at least 10 points.
This year, the conference was one of two in the state to have four 1A schools win first round playoff games. Just getting athletes to come out won’t solve the problem; it’s about getting them to have the same level of commitment as other teams in the conference. There’s also the issue of keeping the best athletes at the school, especially female athletes.
“There’s great potential at Andrews,” Duong said. “We just have to get them committed and develop that potential into progressiveness on the court.
“I think that’s the biggest challenge the new coach will find is getting them to play come out and give it a shot – not just for their senior year, and not take years off because they need a break, just stick with it and just improve.”
It wasn’t always easy, but Duong will miss parts of the job. He’ll miss being the leader of his own team, as well as the players and coaches he got to be around over the last four seasons.
“I had great players as far as personalities,” Duong said. “Obviously at times we struggled on the basketball court, but as far as people go those are some of the best people I’ve been around – and that’s just not last year, that’s through my whole coaching tenure. I’ve been blessed to have some good people as players, so I’ll miss that aspect of it.”