story by Anna Bauman, photos by Hannah Bredar
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Former assistant basketball coach Megan Nyquist will be taking over as head coach of the basketball team this upcoming season. After former head coach Chance Stephen resigned last season, Nyquist was interviewed and chosen as the “best candidate” to replace him, according to athletic director Mark Hough.
“After serving as assistant head coach last season and guiding the team to the team’s first District title since 1998, she was the obvious frontrunner to take over as head coach,” Hough wrote in an email interview. “Coach Nyquist is 100 percent committed to the future of our program and already has excellent rapport with the girls on the team.”
Head coach Nyquist will be joined by other new, as well as returning, coaching staff members. Chemistry teacher Taylor Scott will be the assistant head coach, former freshmen basketball coach Greg Carlson will serve as this year’s JV coach and theology teacher Robert Tonnies will coach the freshmen team.
With a new coaching staff will come changes to the entire basketball program this season.
“This year will be different from anything we’re used to at St. Teresa’s regarding basketball,” Nyquist said. “This will be a breaking it down to basics year, building a program that works at STA.”
This season Nyquist plans to work on more fundamentals and conditioning, as well as team bonding. She wants to find girls with a strong work ethic and positive attitude who are ready to play on the team.
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“Being here last year and knowing who the girls are and what their goals are is definitely a leg up,” Nyquist said. “I’ve built a good rapport with them over the summer and fall conditioning. I enjoy being around [the girls].”
JV basketball player Laura Dierks was coached by Nyquist last season on the JV team. Dierks said her first reaction to finding out that Nyquist was the head coach was one of “happiness.”
“[Nyquist] was our JV coach [last year] and she was really laid back and cool,” Dierks said. “She taught me a lot and all of us [on the team] bonded with her.”
However, as Nyquist moves up from assistant coach to head coach, her responsibilities will become greater.
“I’m kind of mad now [that she is head coach] because our dynamic with her is going to change,” Dierks said. “Now she has a lot more on her plate and she has to make our team good so she’s going to be harsher and more serious now.”
Last season, with Nyquist as assistant coach, the basketball team defeated Lee’s Summit West High School for the District championship title.
“Having Coach Nyquist moving up to fill the role as head coach should offer a seamless transition and build on the positive team dynamic that was apparent with her on the coaching staff last season,” Hough said.
This year, Nyquist looks forward to a strong season.
“I’m looking forward to seeing what the group has to offer when pushed and bringing St. Teresa’s basketball back to where it was fourteen years ago,” Nyquist said.
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Basketball Background
by Mary Hilliard
According to the STA basketball website, Coach Nyquist is a Lee’s Summit High School graduate and an All-Area and All-State basketball player. She also received an honorable mention as an All-American athlete.
At the University of Illinois, Nyquist played basketball for three years. However, due to injury, her career was cut short and she was medically released. But she still played on a wheelchair basketball team and qualified for the paralympics wheelchair basketball team.
After graduating from college in 2008, she began her coaching career at Rockhurst University, where she coached for one year. Nyquist also coached for a year at Johnson County Community College and another year at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.
