GREEN BAY – Green Bay Southwest High School has hired its next girls’ basketball coach.

After not competing at the varsity level last season, the Trojans recently hired Lance Arnold to lead the program.

“It’s very exciting for me because I like to build a program,” the 50-year-old Arnold said. “I’m not one of those coaches who needs to come into a program that has had a lot of success [in recent years]. I’m actually glad I didn’t walk into something like that. I walked into a program where I can build and help these girls develop. For those reasons, I think this journey is going to be great.”

Arnold said he has worked with the Bay Port youth in the past, coached the boys’ JV 1 squad last season at Ashwaubenon and has also coached in the 1848 AAU program.

“Besides the boys’ team at Ashwaubenon last season, I’ve pretty much strictly coached girls,” he said. “With having three girls of my own, I think [coaching girls] fits my style. I know how to talk to the young girls and help them process things. I learned a lot by coaching the boys’ team last year, too.”

It’s no secret that the Southwest girls team has fallen on hard times in the last couple of seasons.

Before not fielding a varsity team last season, the Trojans finished 0-25 two years ago — a year removed from posting a 17-10 mark in 2023-24.

“Southwest has a great foundation of players who have come through the program,” Arnold said. “Just a few years ago, Addison Pytleski came through – she’s now playing at [Division II] Northern Michigan University. Jaddan Simmons played Division I [at Arizona State and Michigan State] and Natisha Heideman is an active WNBA player [with the Seattle Storm]. I think the program just needs to be built on a solid rock and go from there.”

With Southwest recently redoing the baseball field and adding a softball diamond on campus, Arnold said it proves the district is giving its athletes something to be proud of.

“We need more excitement in the program,” he said. “It doesn’t just start in high school — it has to start younger, like in third grade.”

So far, Arnold said the prospective girls on this year’s team are excited for the new change.

“I did a meet and greet, and they have tons of questions,” he said. “With the parents, part of it is having their daughters feel safe and comfortable and knowing they are in great hands. I own my own company working with juveniles and adults with special needs, so I feel I have the patience needed to work through things. I feel my own career transitions over to basketball.”

Though a bit too early to fully realize the type of team he will have in his first season on the sidelines, Arnold said his coaching style is “aggressive and downhill, with a lot of passing and cutting.”

“It’s about making great decisions and playing hard,” he said. “When players fail or turn the ball over, you can’t let yourself get down — I’m not about that. I’m more about uplifting and how we can do better. I mainly want to see my girls play hard. Give me what you’ve got, and we’ll go from there. I can teach you as we go.”

The Trojans open the season with a Dec. 4 road game at Manitowoc Lincoln.

A basketball-rich upbringing

Growing up in Chicago, Arnold said he eventually moved to Lower Michigan and attended Brother Rice High School in Metro Detroit — the same high school of former NBA player B.J. Armstrong and former Green Bay Packers player T.J. Lang.

“Brother Rice was also just a few miles up the road from Detroit County Day High School,” he said. “That’s where [former NBA star] Chris Weber went to high school. We got to scrimmage against him.”