St. Francis turns to Gerdeman again
St. Francis found a familiar face to take over its girls basketball program.
Jeff Gerdeman returns to the sidelines for his third stint with the team. In six combined seasons - 1998-2002 and 2009-2011 - Gerdeman went 105-73 with the Spartans.
In his first stint the Spartans won three straight regionals and two conference championships. He also has coached in the St. Francis baseball and boys basketball programs.
"I'm excited," Gerdeman said Wednesday. " ... We had a good deal of success in the past and I'm looking to build off that. I think we've assembled a great staff. I've got a good core returning, and we're looking forward to it."
One of those staff members is Gerdeman's coach when the 1987 graduate played for the Spartans, Mike Harper.
"I think the world of him," said Gerdeman, the longtime St. Francis IT director. "He's part of the reason I'm here. I wanted to be a teacher and coach like him. He's one of three people that had a great influence on me at a young age."
Harper will be a special assistant, helping out as his schedule allows.
"He will be there to help us and share his knowledge and his passion with us. It's a huge boost for these girls," Gerdeman said.
Though his last stint as coach was meant to fill a gap in the program, Gerdeman sees this as a long-term commitment. He replaces Sandy DeCraene, who led the program for 2½ seasons, taking over when predecessor Melissa Taylor moved out of state at midseason.
"Hopefully, we can stop this from being a revolving door. Hopefully, we have some continuity here for several years to come and the program just sustains itself at that point," he said.
The first step for Gerdeman is to begin an off-season strength and conditioning program for the players as the COVID-19 pandemic allows, then start putting in his system of play when they can get together. Cutting short off-season workouts can have a greater effect on teams with new coaches, but Gerdeman is philosophical about it.
"We're all in the same boat. Us the same as any other school," he said. "It may be a little more challenging for us having to put some new stuff in."
Then the Spartans hope to quickly challenge their opponents on the court.
"We envision putting pressure on for the entire game, mixing things up. I think if we can build our numbers back up and get people to start coming here because they want a chance to play and be a part of building something, I think in the near future we can be competing for conference championships, be competing for regionals and beyond. We have some good players coming back, so we want to make a run this year if possible," he said.