By JOHN JAMES MARSHALL, Journal Sports
When LSUS found itself in a tough spot with the resignation of its women’s basketball coach 11 days before the season was set to begin, athletic director Lucas Morgan had a decision to make.
And not a lot of time to make it.
After considering a few options, he decided to run this idea by Kyle Blankenship: the veteran men’s coach would be the coach of both teams.
At the same time.
All season.
That’s all well and good, but Morgan and Blankenship were wise to run that unique idea by someone else.
Mrs. Blankenship.
“She’s been the MVP of this whole process,” Kyle Blankenship said of his wife, Alexis. “She’s built a tremendous relationship with the women’s team. She does all the things that she’s always done for the men. No way I could have done this without her.”
In high school basketball and especially soccer, it’s not the most unusual thing to have the same coach for the boys and the girls. But at the college level? That’s something entirely different.
So how have things worked out so far? Well, as they drove all the way across Texas Wednesday for a game tonight against Southwest in Hobbs, N.M., the two Pilot teams are a combined 17-3.
Actually, Blankenship is 17-2, which helps illustrate this story. Through the first two months of the season, he has only had one schedule conflict. On Nov. 16, the women’s team was playing in Mississippi and the men’s team was in Texas.
But the next night, Blankenship met the girls team in Arkansas where the Pilots beat Philander Smith.
Believe it or not, the schedules for the season were already in place. It’s not as if Blankenship and Morgan piecemealed it to make it work. Lots of double-headers is the biggest factor that makes it work, but there are other considerations.
Blankenship has been the men’s coach at LSUS for 11 years, but the most time he’s ever spent coaching women’s basketball has come with his daughters in the driveway.
If there was an adjustment – for Blankenship or the women’s players – it didn’t last long.
“When things change, you never know how it’s going to go, but the girls have been great through the process,” Blankenship said. “But this all about them, not me. They had a really good core group coming back. From Day One, they have listened to what we have asked them to do.”
The results have certainly an indication of that. The women’s team is on a six-game winning streak against NAIA competition.
“I’ve seen tremendous strides in what we have been able to do both offensively and defensively over the course of the season,” Blankenship said. “I’m really pleased with their acceptance of our coaching style and how we are doing things. They’ve learned quickly and we hope that’s something that will continue so that we can compete for a conference championship.”
Blankenship used the “basketball is basketball” approach to coaching the two teams.
“I’ve taken the approach of not changing a whole lot, but understanding that there are some different dynamics in coaching men and women,” he said. “I’ve had to adapt in some areas, but it’s been a fun learning experience.”
The men’s team obviously hasn’t suffered as the Pilots are once again a contender for another conference championship with a 9-1 overall record and 4-0 in the league. The women are also 4-0 in the conference and 8-2 overall.
Blankenship gives a great deal of credit to men’s graduate assistant Devin Jackson, who has been taken on even more responsibility for the women’s program. “He’s probably the hardest working person at LSU Shreveport,” Blankenship said.
“We just wanted to do what was best for the women’s program and those players who came here to win,” Blankenship said. “This is not about (a coach) trying to accomplish something that’s never been done before.
“Up to this point in the season,” Blankenship said, “this is something we are pretty proud of.”
Contact JJ at johnjamesmarshall@yahoo.com
