Photo courtesy JRHS
James River native Chris Firebaugh will be moving over a couple seats on the bench to coach the James River girls’ basketball team this winter. Firebaugh has been named to replace Donald Eggleston as girls’ head coach after spending the past two years as his assistant.
A James River High School graduate, Chris is a familiar face in the Springwood community. He was coached by Randy Howard and Gehrig Ferguson at River and played travel basketball under Nicky Firebaugh and Marshall Gates. During Chris’ junior year the Knights beat Parry McCluer in Buena Vista when the Blues were ranked 10th in the state.
In addition to assisting with the girls team, Chris has coached both his sons’ recreation teams. He’ll draw from his experiences playing and coaching as head coach of the Knights.
“I’ll use a little bit from each coach I have played for,” he said. “As far as style, it will vary from year to year based on the personnel.”
Chris has an advantage as he knows the girls, having been in the program the past two years. The Knights made it to the first round of the Region 2C tournament last season, finishing with an 11-13 record.
“We had six girls graduate last year, and the ones returning are a solid nucleus for the upcoming season,” said Firebaugh. “I look forward to building on that this year. Everyone will have an opportunity.”
Chris has yet to fill out his staff, having been officially hired just last week. He indicated that Nathan Ives will return as jayvee coach with Shannon Lynch as assistant. The varsity assistants have yet to be finalized.
