After serving as an assistant coach since 1999, Chad McDowell is getting his opportunity to lead one of Solanco's varsity basketball programs. McDowell was recently named head coach of the Mules' girls program. He is the program's third coach in the last three years. Solanco enjoyed unparalleled success under coach Tom McDonald. McDowell interviewed for the position the last two times it was vacant but was bypassed both times. When the job opened again, he did not hesitate. "I felt all along I was the right man for the job," McDowell said. "I made my mind up I was going to apply again." Now he's getting his chance. "I'm excited," he said. "I'm excited because I know there's a challenge ahead of me. I'm excited to be taking over the helm and implementing my system." McDowell has hit the ground running. He has spent the past six weeks working with Solanco's youth program, working to reestablish fifth and sixth grade travel teams. McDowell, also the Mules' JV softball coach, is holding open gyms for junior high and high school students. Between 25-30 players have attended the open gyms with a few more attending now that the fall sports season is coming to a close. "The excitement level is coming back already," he said. "The first priority is to get numbers up. There was a decline over the last few years but we have already started the process of building that back up." McDowell's goal is have some continuity from the youth program to junior high to the high school squad. "One program, one family," he calls it. The high school players will even help at the youth teams' practices and games. The varsity team won just one game last season, but McDowell isn't planning on using any shortcuts in an attempt to make a quick, but temporary fix. "It's a multi-year process not a one-year turnaround," he said. "It's going to take several years." McDowell, who worked 11 years as a PIAA basketball official after passing the test when he was 18, says he wants his teams to play an up tempo brand of basketball. "I'd like to see the team get up and down the floor as fast as they can," he said. "But I'm waiting to see the personnel and see what horses we have in the barn." He will utilize a pressing defense when the situation warrants but will rely on "good, solid defense." McDowell, a sixth grade language arts teacher and sixth grade team leader at Smith Middle School, served as an assistant coach in the girls program from 1999-2006. He then joined the boys program where he remained until accepting the head coaching job. McDowell cites boys head coach Bill Moore and assistant Don Fisher and former girls coach Gloria Jaremko and Jim Jones as having influenced his coaching style. He is grateful to Dave Lam, who gave him his first opportunity to coach at the high school level. His biggest influence was his father, Jim McDowell, a former coach and official. "He first got me involved with the game as an official," Chad McDowell said. "I had the opportunity to learn the rules of the game and how to manage a game as he and I officiated many games together. After he retired from officiating, he coached where I learned another aspect of the game from him." McDowell played basketball at Altoona High School. He graduated from Lock Haven in the winter of 1995. His girlfriend (now wife) Jen, a Southern End native, suggested he come to Solanco to find regular substitute jobs for the remainder of the school year. He has been here ever since. "Solanco is like home now," he says. McDowell's staff also has a distinct Solanco flavor with all three having played for the Mules. Taylor Kreider, who scored over 1,000 points for the Mules before having an outstanding collegiate career at Elizabethtown, will be the JV coach and varsity assistant. Zac Bauermaster, also an 1,000-point scorer returns as the Junior High coach with Justin Hollinger back as the Junior High JV coach. Comments are closed.
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