FREEPORT ? Chris Westlake became the Highland women?s assistant coach in December.
Five months later, the former Winnebago star has taken over the program. Westlake said that will make the transition to head coach fairly easy.
?It works and it?s a good fit,? he said. ?I really enjoyed the girls this year and look forward to watching them grow next season.?
Westlake takes over the team after Dean Buckwalter resigned after six years as head coach.
Westlake played Division I basketball at Evansville and UW-Green Bay. He averaged 15.4 points as a senior at UWGB, when he made 87 3-pointers, fourth in Green Bay single-season history. He shot 44 percent on 3s that season, fifth in school history.
He took a somewhat unusual coaching path, going from a volunteer assistant in men?s basketball to coaching overseas, back to volunteer coaching at the high school level and then down to middle school.
?I coached for the national team of Qatar. In 2000-01, I was the junior national team head coach for young adults and then I was a head coach for a semipro club team that was there.
?They were all highly competitive and roughly on the level of the NBA D-League.?
In 2009, Westlake was an assistant volunteer coach at Winnebago, then coached seventh and eighth grade at Winnebago.
?I did a little bit of everything,? he said.
Westlake was in a different spot as an assistant at Highland, coaching young women instead of men.
?You have to just make things a little bit more fun. They?re competitive but there?s a softer side too.?
Athletics Director Pete Norman thinks Westlake will adjust well at the junior college level.
?He has a great feel for the game,? Norman said. ?He?s got a great personality to recruit. We were impressed with him since he joined Dean around Christmas time.?
Recruiting will be new to Westlake.
?All the other experiences I?ve had, the kids are provided,? he said. ?But I?m having a great time right now doing it, just meeting new people. With the Internet, almost anybody can be found with just a few clicks. It?s an adventure.?
Joey Baskerville: 815-232-0156; jbaskerville@journalstandard.com; @Baskerville_JS
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