Beason looks to future as new Cottey athletic director, basketball coach

By Matt Resnick

Nevada Daily Mail

Stephanie Beason, former head women's basketball coach at Ancilla College in Donaldson, Ind., was recently named as Cottey College's athletic director and head basketball coach. Beason replaces Dave Ketterman, who coached the basketball team for the past 10 seasons.

"Being at Cottey College is a great opportunity for me," Beason said. "I played in Region 16 (athletics) when I was in college, and I've had the opportunity to watch some of our competitors over the last year."

Beason said her main goal for the upcoming basketball season is to win a regional championship. Cottey finished last season 11-13.

"I have a pretty good grasp of where we are as a team within the region and things we'll need to work on as we make a push for a regional championship down the stretch," she said.

Originally from Norwood, Beason attended North Central Missouri College in Trenton, from 2002-04, where she was a standout basketball and softball player.

In 2004, Beason was named as the school's first ever NJCAA First Team All-American. She was a member of the school's Region 16 championship basketball team in 2003, and runner-up team in 2004. Beason also helped lead the school to a National Tournament berth in softball in 2004.

"It's great to be back in the state of Missouri, where I grew up, surrounded by high schools and high school coaches that I'm familiar with," she said.

Beason said she emphasizes hard work and team togetherness as part of her coaching philosophy.

"My biggest thing as a coach is that, my players are not only learning and being successful as basketball players, but that they are also growing and improving as a person," she said. "I like to recruit young women who are hard workers and have a lot of heart for the game.

"I work hard to instill leadership qualities in my athletes. For me, it's all about hard work and being a team player.

"Then being able to take the life lessons they learn within the game and translate them into their personal life and their careers down the road."

Beason said 5-11 sophomore forward Linsey Denney is the team's top returning player.

"I believe we have five returners and have a total of nine LOI's (Letters of Intent) signed right now," she said. "I have two other commitments and I'm still working on two. So we have the potential for 13 (players on the roster)."

With plenty of new faces joining the team, Beason said she hopes the team will quickly develop good chemistry.

"I think we have some good pieces, some good freshman, as well as a couple of really decent transfers coming in," she said. "As long as we can gel together and they buy into some of the differences that I want to do compared to what coach Ketterman has done in the past -- then we'll give ourselves an opportunity."

Beason said part of her role as athletic director is to provide support for the school's coaches and sports programs.

"It's trying to do what I can do to benefit the coaches and benefit the programs that we have here," she said. "To kind of kick-start them in a new school year and just trying to get them to improve.

After her three-year coaching stint in Indiana, Beason said she is enjoying being back in her home state.

"We won a regional championship while I was playing at North Central on this court, so I've had great memories of it so far," she said. "We have a great campus and a great setup down here. We have all the tools to be successful, and campus-wide support to improve on our programs and put ourselves in a great situation."