The following remarks were made Tuesday by Principal Casey Jaynes in announcing the appointment of Auburn native Finley Baird Woodard as head girls basketball coach at her alma mater, Logan County High School.
I would like to especially say thank you to our basketball search committee. This group of people spent many days going over applications, resumes and interviews over the past four weeks. Their input to the process was invaluable to me and I would like to recognize them individually.
Lonnie Mason – LCHS Boys basketball coach.
Alissa Todd- Assistant Principal
Ben Brown – LCHS basketball radio announcer for a number of years and former girls basketball parent
Chad Hardison – parent of current sophomore Maegann Hardison who has dedicated numerous hours to our basketball program
Hugh McReynolds – LCHS Athletic Director
Over 25 people applied for our Head Basketball coaching position, from various levels of experience and two different states. The levels of experience ranged from former state championship head coaches to current middle school coaches. We approached this position like we would any other position in the county with applicants having to go through our Central Office personnel screening process. If the applicant did not pass the screening process, they were not considered for the review process by the committee. Superintendent Marshall Kemp believes that all of our coaches should also be good teachers. This puts into perspective of the importance of teaching. All of our coaches also have to be able to work with all students, not just basketball players.
This process brought us down to 15 qualified applicants. The committee was provided with the information that these 15 applicants sent to us, along with their teacher application and resume. From this list of 15 applicants the committee chose four potential candidates to interview. After interviews were conducted the committee came to an agreement on three candidates. After a two-hour meeting and numerous emails over the course of a couple of days, the committee came to consensus on Finley Woodard. The committee listed the following qualities that they thought were important for the next coach of LCHS: Team building skills, discipline, perspective and balance, fun, patience, maturity and communication.
This decision was a very long and arduous process. I believe that the committee worked well together, brought up valid points as to what was the best for Cougar basketball and again I want to thank them for their efforts in this process.
Athletics is an important part of any high school and community in our Commonwealth. I don’t think that anyone would dispute that point. Athletics promotes a sense of school pride. Athletics provides a means of community for many individuals and teaches many life lessons along the way. Students who are involved in some form or extracurricular activity are 85 percent more likely to graduate high school and have a successful transition to adult life.
We must do a better job of preparing our students at an early age the fundamentals of any activity that they are interested in, whether its music, cheerleading, FFA, or basketball. If you will look at our traditionally successful programs at LCHS, our students get involved early in their career, many at the 4th and 5th grade levels. In order to continue this success, our basketball program must begin to have cohesiveness at the elementary and middle school levels. There must be a concentrated effort to develop introductory and skill development programs in the county and its communities. We will need everyone to support all of our programs, but especially basketball.
It is a great time to continue to develop the tradition and success that our students deserve and our community desires. This will take a lot of time, hard-work and dedication on our part, but anything worth obtaining takes all of these qualities.
Finley Baird Woodard, a native of Russellville, was a legend in girls’ high school basketball playing at Auburn High School and then being part of the first graduating class from Logan County High School. During high school, she was not only part of the girls basketball team, ut she also played tennis. Coach Woodard is happy to return to Logan County High School as Head Coach of the Lady Cougars.
She is a graduate of Western Kentucky University where she received both a bachelor’s (Computer Information Systems) and a master’s degree (Student Affairs). Prior to attending WKU, she attended Lindsey Wilson College where she received an associate’s degree in Computer Science. Her collegiate basketball experience includes being a member of both the Lady Raider basketball team at Lindsey Wilson College and the Lady Topper basketball team at Western Kentucky University.
She has wonderful, memorable experiences of her times on the hill as a Lady Topper and loves the game of basketball. She has 13 years of experience coaching high school girls’ basketball. She was an assistant coach at Logan County High School on two different occasions; from the 1996 season to 1998 season and again from the 1999 season through the 2001 season. While at Logan County High School, Coach Woodard also coached track for three seasons. She was also an assistant at Greenwood on three separate occasions: the 1998 to 1999 season, the 2004 season to the 2007 season and again most recently from the 2011 season to the 2013 season. In addition, she coached at Todd County Central High school for the 2001-2002 season.
Finley B. Woodard is married to (Adairville native) Glenn Woodard, and they have a 10-year old son named Ashton.