Great Bend High School was surprised when it learned it would need a new head boys basketball coach next season. But, when Kyle Kreigh left to return to his hometown of Kingman, the Panthers had to find his successor.
Enter Taylor Satterthwaite, a young coach getting his first opportunity. Satterthwaite has spent the last five years as an assistant at Manhattan in both boys basketball and boys tennis, now taking over both programs as the head coach in Great Bend.
Satterthwaite walks into a program that has had a lot of success recently and he knows his job is to keep up the culture of winning. How does he plan to keep that excitment up?
"Tempo. Pace. As much as we're able to I want to get up and down. I want to press. Whether that's man or zone, doesn't necessarily matter, we'll have all of it. Very fast paced, energetic, and fun to watch.
"You're gonna some up here and there (points) but you hope that it kinda turns around and you get yours."
He also hopes to build personal connections with the guys he's coaching.
"I'm definitely coming from a spot where I was kind of THE players coach. Who they'd go to in Manhattan if there was any sort of issue or anything like that. Just come and talk to me.
I pride myself on those relationships. I think that goes a long way with 'Hey I want you to do this and this', especially if you have a relationship with them, helps them to fall in line for lack of a better term."