Following the departure of the Smyer Lady Cats Head Basketball Coach Todd Nichols to pursue another opportunity in Slaton, the school has decided to hire from within, appointing Jeremy Binion as their next Girls Basketball Head Coach.
Binion is currently the Girls Track & Field Head Coach and already shares a good connection with the student athletes and community base. Along with that, his attitude, basketball philosophies and goals for the Lady Cats’ future expressed in the interview process led to his hiring, which Smyer Athletic Director Scott Funke further elaborated on.
“Coach Binion brings energy and passion to the program,” Funke said. “He cares tremendously about all our athletes, and his family is a large part of our community. I’m looking forward to seeing him add his knowledge of the sport to the passion he brings in the coming years.”
Coach Binion brings his track coaching experience, along with high school coaching experience in basketball, volleyball and football.
He began his career as an assistant football coach at All Saints Episcopal High School and then took over the Head Coach role for a year. Following that, he ended up at Loop High School, restarting their girls’ basketball program and leading their volleyball team to the playoffs. Then he coached volleyball at Community High School, leading them to 20 wins and a postseason appearance.
Now, he takes over the Lady Cats basketball program, coming off a record of 21-11 overall and 6-6 in district play and finishing fourth in the 2A District 5 standings. Under Coach Nichols, the Lady Cats made the postseason and won the Bi-District Championship in back-to-back seasons.
Binion noted the strong foundation Coach Nichols has built and the competitiveness of the program, which is something he’ll look to build on, but he did acknowledge the program will look a little different.
“We will be low on numbers with this first high school group, but they’re bought in, and they want to do well,” Coach Binion said. “It’s a quick turnaround of being able to apply different skills and knowledge and play the game a little bit differently than we have in the past based on the skill set we’ll have. We’ve got a lot of really incredible sixth, seventh and eighth graders that I think are going to do some really fantastic things. The focus will be on making sure they’re equipped and ready to play when it’s their time to be called.”