When Jason Hill walks into the gymnasium for tonight’s high school girls’ basketball game at Signal Mountain, let’s hope he heads to the right bench.
Hill was the Signal Mountain head coach from the program’s first season (2008-09) through last year. Now he is an assistant again at District 7-AA rival Notre Dame, which takes on the Lady Eagles tonight at 6 with first place in the balance.
In addition to Hill’s homecoming, the game also marks the first time Signal Mountain has held a basketball homecoming for its graduates. A bonfire and a pep rally were scheduled to take place Thursday night.
Junior Aryn Sanders plays for the Lady Eagles and also is a student council member.
“It’s definitely a game I’ve thought about since the beginning of the season,” Sanders said. “This is the first year we’ve held a winter homecoming, and we decided to have it for this game. Notre Dame is a big rivalry. It’s on a Friday. It’s going to be a fun game.”
The game actually is a return home for all the Lady Irish coaches. Head coach Wes Moore is in his fourth season at Notre Dame after spending three years as Signal Mountain’s boys’ coach.
Assistant De Lamb coached with Hill at Signal Mountain beginning in 2010 and guided the middle school team, which includes many of the current Lady Eagles players, to an HCAC championship in 2011. Moore’s other assistant is Sydni Abbajay, a former basketball and volleyball player who was in Signal Mountain’s first graduating class.
Then Signal Mountain principal Eddie Gravitte hired Hill, whose team last season handed champion Bledsoe County its only league loss. Hill ended up being voted the girls’ district coach of the year.
But Hill said current principal Robin Popp preferred that all of the coaches be on staff, and because he teaches at St. Jude School, Popp did not offer Hill a position. Moore, a friend of Hill’s for almost a decade, was able to hire him in late spring.
“For years and years and years we’ve talked about wanting to coach together,” Moore said. “Things just kind of worked out. I had an opening, and he thankfully and graciously took the job.
“I can tell you it’s a lot more fun coaching with him instead of against him.”
Not surprisingly, Hill still feels a bond with the Signal Mountain players. Prize-pupil Sanders has blossomed into a 25-point-per-game scorer this season.
“I remember back in middle school when I played in eighth grade and he helped me make the transition to high school, which is a more fast-paced game,” Sanders said. “I was the point guard on the high school team as an eighth-grader, which would be stressful on anybody.”
The Lady Eagles are 12-4 and 4-1 in the district under new coach Kendra Bell.
“It wasn’t as big of a transition as I thought it would be,” Sanders said. “We play a couple of different defenses, but that’s about it. We’ve had a young team the past few years the majority of the time. We still play with the same fast tempo. It’s basically the same group of girls still together. I like the way Coach Bell runs things. It hasn’t been a difficult transition at all.”
Notre Dame (12-5, 4-0) enters the game as the district’s only unbeaten team, despite being beset with multiple injuries. Taelor Hill and Annie Ripper have knee injuries that will prevent them from playing the rest of the season. Moore said Adia Colvin, who has been in a walking boot, will dress out but her status will be a game-time decision. Post player Keonna Beaman returned to play Tuesday after missing three games with a thumb injury.
“The girls that have been able to stay healthy have worked their tails off, and we’ve been able to get some hard-fought wins,” Moore said.
Correspondingly, Bell said her team has done a good job of focusing on the game at hand. The plan is to try to treat tonight’s game like any other.
“It’s just another step toward our goal,” Bell said, “but with a little extra pep to it, no doubt. It’s exciting. A rivalry game is always a little more heated. It will have a little more energy than most of them.”
And in this case in particular, a lot more emotions.
“I wish I could say it’s going to be an easy trip up the mountain, but I can’t,” Hill said. “That program and those girls meant the world to me. Our coaching staffs did everything we could to build the program the right way since the doors opened back in 2008. I will always care for the girls that have played, and still play, for Signal Mountain.
“I am a part of the Notre Dame family now and I am fully committed to them, as any coach should be. To me the game is all about the kids that play it, and not about the coaches. First place is on the line and I fully expect both teams to play their hearts out. I wish all the girls the best of luck, and for the first time in six years I will be pulling for the visitors up at Signal Mountain.”
Contact Kelley Smiddie at ksmiddie@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6653. Follow him at twitter.com/KelleySmiddie.