The Job I’ve Been Trusted With: The First Season

There’s a certain weight that comes with the phrase “the job I’ve been trusted with.” It’s not just about drawing up plays or pacing the sideline during a tight fourth quarter. It’s about people. It’s about representing something bigger than yourself. And this season, more than any other in my career, reminded me exactly why that matters.

When this journey with the Madill High School began, not many people outside our locker room believed in what this team could become. Some thought we wouldn’t be competitive. Some assumed the year would be about rebuilding, learning, or just getting by. But inside our gym, the expectations were different. The standard was different.

Those young ladies believed.

And because they believed, they worked.

This first season had its share of ups and downs. There were long rides, tough losses, practices where we had to look in the mirror and demand more from each other. But there were also moments that reminded me why I love this game,  moments where effort, grit, and trust in one another turned into something special.

By the end of the season, the record read 21–7. More than that, this team built one of the best defensive identities in the state of Oklahoma. Night after night they competed, communicated, and guarded with a toughness that can’t be taught overnight. Defense isn’t glamorous. It doesn’t always make the highlight reels. But it tells the truth about a team’s heart. And these girls showed theirs every time they stepped on the floor.

As a coach, I couldn’t have been more proud of a group.

In fact, I’ll say something I don’t take lightly: this may have been the most enjoyable season of my coaching career.

There’s something different about coaching in the place that shaped you. When you walk into the gym and see familiar faces in the stands… when you know the community behind the name across your chest… When the players in front of you represent the same town that raised you,  it changes the way the job feels.

It stops feeling like a job.

It starts feeling like a calling.

This season reminded me that the job isn’t really about me at all. It’s about the young women who show up every day willing to give their best. It’s about helping them grow,  not just as players, but as teammates, leaders, and people. It’s about carrying forward the pride of a program and leaving it better than you found it.

Seasons come and go.

But the relationships built in a locker room… the lessons learned through adversity… the pride of representing something bigger than yourself,  those things stay.

This group of  Wildcats reminded me of that.

And for that, I’m grateful.