Veteran Jerry Cathey excited to be the next head coach for Childress girls basketball

There aren’t many places Jerry Cathey hasn’t been at this point in his career. Tulia, Fort Elliot, Dumas, Memphis, Adrian: He’s been all over the Panhandle:

Now, he’s making a move a little further north.

Cathey has accepted the girls head basketball coaching position at Childress. He’s worked on the girls side of things everywhere he’s been save for Adrian. While he was only at Tulia, Fort Elliot and Dumas for a year each, he’s got a feeling this move will keep him around a bit longer.

“I was just talking to (Childress boys coach) Wayne Parker and he asked if I was going to put in for (the girls job),” Cathey said. “One thing led to another, I got an interview and Childress is just one of those jobs that when it comes open on the basketball side you don’t pass it up. After they offered me, it was a no-brainer. It’s close to one of my kids, I spent three years in Memphis so I have close friends over there, it was more or less close to home.”

New Childress girls basketball coach Jerry Cathey

Cathey was at Tulia last year, where the team went 13-21 in ultra-competitive District 1-3A. He’s had success many places, including Memphis, where he coached for three years. He’s learned a lot in his travels, and he plans to incorporate those lessons at Childress as well.

“I’m going to take a lot of what I did at Memphis and Dumas,” Cathey said. “Coach (David) Jurado at Memphis does an outstanding job with their offseason stuff. I’m going to take what I learned and instill it at Childress. (Previous head) coach (Shannon) Fisher really left us in a good spot, and those are some big shoes to fill and I’m not going to try and come in and change a whole lot. I’m going to just keep rocking and rolling.”

That shouldn’t be too hard given the tradition of excellence at Childress, but it won’t be without its challenges either. The Lady Bobcats went 25-10 last season, finishing second in District 2-3A behind Idalou, and advanced to the regional quarterfinals. However, Childress graduated all five starters from last season. Cathey is already getting to know the team, though, and is feeling confident about where it’s already at.

“Their basketball IQ is very, very high,” Cathey said. “We’ve got a couple of good, athletic posts, I’ve got guards that can shoot the ball and we’re still going to run our man offense, run and jump and all. … The five seniors they lost were all starters, so just playing time and believing they’re capable of doing what those seniors did is their deal. Once they believe in me and themselves, I think we can have a very good season.”

More than basketball, however, Cathey is just excited to help shape these young ladies into the adults they will one day become.

“We live by three rules that if you do on the court and off the court you’ll be successful,” Cathey said. “Go 100% all of the time, get better every day and never make the same mistake twice. If we live by those three rules on and off the court, we’ll be successful in life and basketball.”

This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: Veteran Jerry Cathey excited to be the next head coach for Childress girls basketball