After 18 years of coaching at EHS and seven years as the Girl’s Varsity Basketball head coach, Mr. James Alsup has been quite successful over the years.

Coach Alsup has coached teams to state championship titles in 2002 and to multiple final four appearances through out the years.

“Coach Alsup spends a lot of time coaching us,” Maddi Taggart, forward said. “He’s definitely appreciated by all of us on the team for all he does.”

His success has amounted in many winning seasons and career victories which makes his team value him as a coach.

“Coach always pushes us to do our best,” Lexi Roellig, guard said. “I have a lot of respect for him not only as a coach but a person, as well, for that.”

Coach spends much of his time with his players. From practice everyday after school, to games, to weekend tournaments, to off-season training, he rarely misses an opportunity to better himself as a coach and better his team.

“He’s very dedicated and basketball is pretty much his life.” Makayla Jackson, forward said. “He puts a ton of time into not only coaching us but scouting other teams in order to plan for our games.”

This season’s 2014-2015 Girl’s Varsity team sits at fourth in the overall Suburban West Conference, first in offense and ninth in defense.

They have totaled 1192 points this season and average 54.2 points-per-game.

“As a coach, I try to coach the players hard so they feed off that and play hard,” Coach Alsup said. “I would say that I’m a pretty demanding coach.”  

During practice, as well as games, Coach Alsup is a very animated coach. He is stern with his players and yells from the sidelines when they do not perform at the level he anticipates.

“He’s definitely tough on us,” Jackson said. “But he does it for a good reason, it’s what he’s supposed to do because he is the head coach.”

It is this very style of coaching that has helped lead his teams, past and present, to such successful seasons.

Coach Alsup’s coaching style definitely reflects in the way his players perform.

Although their 9-14 record this season may not be the most desirable, each player comes out ready to go.

“Coach Alsup definitely has an aggressive coaching philosophy,” Mr. James Daffron, assistant coach, said. “He’s an aggressive coach and plays a fast pace game.” 

There is more to being a head coach than just coaching players.

“A big part of his job is planning,” Coach Daffron said. “He’s very organized and always has a drawn-out plan about the other team and knowing what they’re going to do, which, in turn, leads to success.”

While planning, Coach Alsup always switches up his styles.

“Strategy wise; he always plans ahead and  likes to mix it up on offenses and defenses,” Jackson said. “He’s only had a losing season about three times his whole career so he knows what hes doing.”

His planning was a contributed factor this Tuesday, Mar. 3 as the Girls Varsity team defeated the Marquette Mustangs in the first round of the playoffs.

They will look ahead to the second game of the playoffs at Washington High School on Friday, Mar. 6.