GIRLS COACH OF THE YEAR

Some coaches are afraid to step into a situation where fans have high expectations.

Not John Curry.

Curry, a veteran coach, was more than willing to take the Smithton girls coaching job during the offseason.

With a clear vision of what he needed to change and a knowledge of what needed to be left alone, Curry helped guide the Tigers to a 26-3 mark and an appearance in the Class 2 quarterfinals.

Curry’s ability to improve the already talented Tigers is what makes him The Democrat’s 2008 Coach of the Year.

Smithton returned its top three players from last year’s district championship team, giving many fans good cause for high expectations. Those expectations weren’t a concern for the coach.

“I didn’t really see it that way,” Curry said. “I knew there were high expectations, but I don’t think the expectations were that they were a final-four team because they knew that Westran was on the road (to the final four). I think more people were concerned with — could they win district again?”

What many fans didn’t realize about this year’s Smithton team was the Tigers still had plenty of building to do with the program, despite the high expectations.

“The beginning (of the year), we focused on the team, the whole program,” Curry said. “There hadn’t been a junior varsity team in a couple of years. Whatever depth we had was completely depleted.”

Outside of its three seniors in Alina Voronenko, Heather Letourneau and Jillian Burrows, Smithton didn’t have a player with any real varsity action. With Curry’s direction, the Tigers developed a talented starting five with the inclusion of Kaslyn Gail and Brittney Hotsenpiller.

“At first, everything was geared toward building the program up and getting it back on its feet,” Curry said.

Once the Tigers had developed a solid starting five and had a group of reserves Curry felt he could count on, Smithton started to focus on getting ready for the postseason.

“I knew we were going to be good this year to a point, but I didn’t know exactly how good we were going to be,” Voronenko said.

To find success in district and playoff games, Curry had the Tigers work on their free-throw shooting.

Curry said he felt like Smithton needed to be solid from the line so it could ice a game down the stretch.

The Tigers shot 72 percent from the line this year.

“That’s just something that we talked about because it was something that they were weak on last year,” Curry said. “They didn’t shoot free throws very well.”

Curry said free-throw shooting is something he’s always stressed with his team and the girls agreed, creating games to play with free throws before the season started.

The Tigers averaged around 65 points and allowed 36 points per game this year, a huge margin of victory.

Curry said the team was focused on one game at a time late in the season, which was the key reason the Tigers never stubbed their toe.

Smithton’s only three losses were to Skyline, the Class 3 champion, Crest Ridge, a team ranked as highly as third in Class 2, and Westran, which finished second in Class 2 for the second straight year.

Voronenko admitted that she was concerned when she found out that David Kolzow, last year’s coach of the year, was leaving.

She said she worried that the new coach might mess up the team’s chemistry, but she felt like she bonded with Curry quickly.

“I told her we were going to get further than we had gone before,” Curry said. “Of course, I didn’t know.”