With a new year comes new goals. For LBCC basketball coach Debbie Herrold, her goals have been set since she was selected to be the head coach of LB's women's basketball team for the 2015-2016 season.
"Coming into this season you're just trying to build a base for a first-year program," said Herrold.
The LB women's basketball team was ended following the conclusion of the 2013 school year, after nearly a $2.9 million budget deficit. Two years later, at the beginning of 2015, the school announced the women's basketball team would be returning, yet the college had not brought on a new head coach to lead the program.
Three months later Debbie Herrold was given the new head coaching job. A former player and coach at LBCC, Herrold seemed to be perfectly fitted to lead the team's new revival.
"By the time I was hired, most teams' recruiting season was finished," Herrold said. "We did a campus-wide search here and offered open play and open tryouts last spring."
After a "whirlwind" of a recruitment process Herrold was left with an all-freshmen squad, which as of today sits only nine players deep.
At the head of those players lies team captain Nicole Magnuson, a third-year freshman by eligibility standards. "Well I'm a freshman eligibility wise myself so it's challenging because it's all new to me. We have so much potential it is now just about executing," said Magnuson.
The team currently sits at a 7-8 win-loss record, which Herrold reassures is not as bad as it seems. "I couldn't be more pleased with how we have progressed. What we discovered is that we have a group of nine players who work extremely hard, they give a lot on the court day-in and day-out."
The team's next game is Wednesday, January thirteenth against Umpqua Community College, currently the second-ranked team in the Northwest Athletic Conference.
When asked if Herrold had any last thoughts, she shared a message for any aspiring athletes, "Just because now we are an established program, my door is always open to any girls on campus that have basketball experience and interested in playing... there's no reason they shouldn't come and talk to me."
