Sarah Snyder isn’t only a math teacher at the high school but also the head coach for the girls varsity basketball team. After the resignation of Coach Jeff Hoyh upon the conclusion of the 2021-2022 season, Snyder stepped into the head coach position, hoping to make a statement.
In the recent past, coach longevity has been an issue for the Wildcats, with Snyder being the fourth coach in the past 10 years. Snyder plans to change that.
“I’m going to be here for a long time, I’m not going anywhere,” Snyder said. “I’m committed to Northview, and from what I feel, they’re committed to me.”
Dedication comes with trust, and Snyder feels like she has won the girls’ loyalty.
“The advantage I have is that the girls knew me beforehand [as a teacher], so they trust me and respect me,” Snyder said. “If they didn’t know me beforehand I would go in there and they would be like ‘who is this lady’?”
Sophomore varsity basketball player Hannah Gillette has full confidence that Snyder has the tools and the skills of being a great coach, because she was her student.
“She knows the steps to get us farther than we think we can go,” Gillette said. “She gives you examples as she would in the classroom. She would tell you if you’re doing something wrong.”
For Gillette, Snyder as a teacher and as a coach are very different things.
“It’s different than having her as a coach than as a teacher because she’s more go-with-the-flow as a teacher,” Gillette said. “She’s a 110 percent kind of coach. She wants you to want to get better.”
Senior and team captain Nevaeh Morgan has been on varsity since her sophomore year. One difference she sees in Snyder is that she cares about basketball and sets aside all other issues, so when the team is on the court, all they care about is the game itself.
“She cares more about the people playing basketball rather than all the other surroundings. Coach Snyder is good at squashing all problems before we step onto the court so when we’re out there we are 100 percent teammates and have no underlying issues,” Morgan said.
Snyders’s main goal this year is to build team values. Even though winning is important, building a team is more of a priority. The team motto is ‘family,’ and Snyder thinks they are fulfilling that.
“To build a good culture and a good family group, I think before we start talking about championships, we got to get the [basic training] down and that’s going to be knowing that people have each other’s back,” Snyder said. “Having a good relationship, and knowing that you can make mistakes, but having that framework of a good culture together.”
Athletic Director Patrick Marsman agrees that bonds are essential for a team. Building a team is a big step to becoming a great program.
“If you don’t have relationships with your students or players, they’re not going to work as hard for you,” Marsman said. ”I think she is doing a good job with the relationships.”
It’s evident that the team and staff not only trust her on the court, but they have a genuine connection with her. Morgan believes that being acquainted with your team can go a long way in coaching one.
“As she is a teacher to most and our coach she also tries to be our friend and is very open in that. She is very relatable and easy to get along with,” Morgan said. “She is dedicated and she knows better how to deal with teenage girls which I think is sometimes better than just knowing the game of basketball.”
Even though the girls season is doing better than past years, there is always room for improvement.
“I’m happy about where we are at right now, but I want to get better,” Marsman said. “Every day I want our teams to get better and better and work hard to get better.”
