MELROSE BASKETBALL COACH MAKING A SWITCH THIS SEASON
Melrose High School basketball coach Kevin Lackey is in his 6th season with the Buffaloes, but this year probably seems like year one. Lackey switched from coaching the boys program to taking over the girls team.
“Girls have a lot longer attention span, so it’s fun,” Lackey joked.
During the summer, the school was looking for a football/basketball coach and Lackey said he thought it would be easier to find a football/boys basketball combo than a football/girls basketball coach. Lackey also said he has a seventh-grade daughter and thought the transition made sense.
“I’ve talked to seven or eight coaches who have coached both (boys and girls) and some will say there’s no difference and some will say there’s a ton of things different,” Lackey said. “The main thing I’ve found we’re going to have to do is more team bonding stuff than I’m used to in the past and more of that relationship type stuff.”
Lackey had plenty of success with the boys program at Melrose, winning state championships in 2018, 2019, and 2020. Melrose also reached the Class A final in 2021, losing to Magdalena in the COVID-shortened season. Lackey compiled a record of 114-21 over the last five years with the boys.
“I think girls will listen to you to a fault, which is both good and bad, so I will teach them what that balance is,” he said. “It will be a lot of fun.”
Melrose is 6-1 on the season so far and will play Dexter Thursday afternoon in the opening round of a tournament in Capitan.
