The openings for varsity coaches in baseball and girls basketball at Alton High are expected to be filled at the district’s board meeting on July 15, according to athletics director Scott Harper.
The baseball vacancy was created when Harper moved into the AD opening created with Mike Brey’s move to an assistant principal at AHS. Girls basketball came open when Tammy Talbert resigned as coach at the end of the school year.
Harper was reluctant to give up coaching after spending 10 years as an assistant with the Redbirds before he got his shot to lead the program in 2007. Then as now, the opening came because of a coach moving into administration with Michael Bellm moving to an assistant principal’s role.
Harper, a Roxana High graduate, posted a two-year record of 38-27, including a 21-10 season in 2008. He guided the Redbirds to a regional championship in 2007. The leading in-house candidate is Todd Haug, though at least one top Southwestern Conference assistance coach has applied for the job, assuming a teaching position is available.
Alton had hoped to have the girls basketball job filled by the end of June, but was unable to meet that soft deadline. Talbert’s resignation came after six seasons that saw the program unable to lift itself out of the cellar in the SWC.
Talbert, who took Marquette Catholic to the Class A State Finals in 2000 and had a 160-51 record in eight seasons with the Explorers, could never translate that success to Alton. Talbert spent two seasons coaching in Missouri before taking the Redbirds job.
Her hiring came at the same time Edwardsville made a splash by luring Lori Blade away from Carrollton after phenomenal success at the small-school level. And while the Tigers have gone 146-40 with four Elite Eight berths in six seasons under Blade, the Redbirds have labored through six straight losing seasons and a 43-116 record.
To be fair, Blade took over a program that was in much better shape than Alton’s. But still, the results for the Redbirds have been disappointing. Alton has gone 2-12 in SWC play in each of the past three seasons. And going back two seasons before Talbert arrived, Alton girls basketball has a 12-100 record in SWC play since 2001.
The SWC graduated its marquee players from 2008, including Division I recruits TeAndrea Smith (Illinois) of East St. Louis, Morgan Harrington (Missouri State) and Suzanne Grossnickle (Ball State) of Belleville East, and Anya Covington (Wisconsin), Eryn Stepherson (Southern Illinois Carbondale) and Moneisha Davis (Morgan State) of Edwardsville.
So a step up the SWC ladder is a reasonable expectation for an Alton program would be satisfied with baby steps at this point.
– GREG SHASHACK

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