By Rich Palzewic
Sports Editor
SUAMICO – After six seasons as the Bay Port High School girls’ basketball coach, Kati Coleman has stepped down.
Coleman, hired in 2014, helped lead the Pirates to a WIAA Division 1 state title in 2019.
Bay Port also returned to state this past March, but the tournament was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Pirates never got the chance to defend their title.
“(Bay Port Principal Mike) Frieder and (former athletic director) Otis (Chambers) took a chance on me,” said Coleman, who had no varsity coaching experience before being hired six years ago. “I was coaching eighth-grade basketball before I took the head job at Bay Port. I don’t know a lot of people that would do that. They put their faith in me to build a program and lead an amazing group of student-athletes. I was also able to coach with my dad (Bay Port assistant Steve Harty). Not many daughters can say they won a state championship with their father.”
Coleman, who played her high school ball at Ashwaubenon, also played at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay.
The Pirates went 121-30 overall under her watch and won 20 or more games four times during her tenure.
Coleman said family and COVID-19 were the two biggest factors in her stepping down.
“I took a lot of time thinking about this decision,” she said. “My family is very important to me. I work at KBX Logistics, and I’d have practice at 5 p.m. every night. Bay Port is a 25-minute drive from my house in De Pere, and most nights, I wouldn’t get home until 7 or 7:30, just in time to eat dinner and put my two kids to bed. It starts taking a toll, and I wanted more family time.”
Coleman and her team had to deal with their season coming to an abrupt end in March, and she said she doesn’t want it to happen again.
“I was talking to (new Bay Port head coach) Dennis (Gladwell) about the precautions the WIAA is having teams take, and I feel like I’d be working more on COVID precautions than how to be a better basketball team on the court,” she said. “The fact no one can tell us what the plans are for the winter season are tough. Some conferences are canceling the winter season, and some are waiting it out. The waiting game is hard.”
Girls’ basketball practice in the state is set to begin Monday, Nov. 16.
The Howard-Suamico School District recently released an email saying, based on current community health data, remote learning would be in place until at least Monday, Nov. 23.
Though districts can technically hold sports even in a remote-learning environment, because Bay Port moved its fall sports to the spring, it appears the school won’t allow sports to happen with kids not in school.
“I don’t want to remember basketball where we stop for two weeks because someone on the team got COVID and we have to quarantine,” Coleman said. “No fans watching the game, wearing masks and making a point to stay 6 feet away from each other – that’s not basketball and not how I want to remember basketball when I’m older. I don’t feel like I can give 100 percent in this environment. If I can’t give myself fully to the sport and the school I’ve loved for years, it’s the right time to step down.”
Editor’s note: It was announced Nov. 2 by Bay Port Athletic Director Brian Matz that Gladwell was named the new head coach.