Russellville High School has announce the hiring of Dennis Pardue as the new Lady Panthers Basketball Head Coach. Coach Pardue comes to RHS with a wealth of coaching experience that spans 33 years in education (27 in Kentucky and 6 in Tennessee). He has 21 years experience as a Head Basketball coach at the High School level, amassing 335 career wins, 16 winning seasons, seven District Championships, and three 4th Region “All A” Championships.
Coach Pardue served as the Russellville Boys Basketball Head Coach from 2004-2012, finishing with three 13th District Championships and a record of 142-90. During his time at RHS, the Panthers never missed the 4th Region Tournament and never had a losing record.
Coach Pardue takes over for Ryan Davenport, who handled the coaching duties in 2020-21 on an interim basis. Davenport elected to step away from the girls basketball position following the 2020-21 season to continue to focus on his duties as Assistant Principal, District Athletic Director, and RHS Head Softball Coach.
Coach Davenport guided the 2020-21 Panthers to a 10-11 record and the Lady Panthers’ third consecutive trip to the 4th Region Tournament.
Coach Pardue inherits a Lady Panther basketball team with big goals for 2021-22. The Lady Panthers return all but two players (Chloe Whitescarver and Macaria Hines) off their 2020-21 team. Returning are All-District and All-Region players Anastasia Dowlen and Amiyah Collier. Also returning is 8th Grade sensation Lareesha Cawthorne, who finished the year third on the team in scoring. The roster is deep with multiple players who played significant minutes such as Jaylah Kees, Brinley Mason, and Aliyah Kennedy as well as a host of other young players.
Pardue, a 1981 graduate of Auburn High School, has also coached Auburn Middle School and Russellville Middle School boys basketball. He has coached boys high school basketball in Kentucky at Barren County (assistant coach), Garrard County, and Todd Central twice. This is his first time to coach girls basketball.
Dennis Pardue and his wife—former Russellville Middle School teacher Diane Pardue—live in the Auburn area.