SYRACUSE - Wawasee High School named former boys basketball assistant coach Kem Zolman the new girls head basketball coach Wednesday.

Zolman takes over a program that has had four coaches in the past three years, including two last year.

Randy Aalbregtse began last year as the head coach but took a nine-week leave of absence beginning in the first week of January. Assistant coach Mark Sumpter then took over the team as interim coach and helped it advance to the second round of the sectional.

Aalbregtse then gave his full resignation one week after Wawasee was knocked out of the postseason. That left the door open for Zolman, who has been in the coaching profession for 17 years, including the past 10 at Wawasee.

Among the many attributes that he will bring to the program is organization, according to athletic director Mary Hurley.

"Coach Zolman is a well-organized, well-prepared coach with a wealth of basketball knowledge," Hurley said. "He is highly respected among his coaching and teaching peers. We look forward to his leadership in the basketball program."

The decision to take over the position was not an easy one for Zolman. His son, Josh, will be a senior next year on the boys team. And on the girls team is his daughter, Shanna, who will be a freshman next year and is one of the brightest prospects in the area. Her teams have not lost a game since fourth grade.

"It was a small factor (his daughter being on the high school team next year)," Zolman said. "But, more of a factor was whether I shouldn't leave because of Josh. We talked about it, and he understands. I have had the rare opportunity to coach my son as well as my daughter. I thought about it a long time. This wasn't an overnight decision."

Zolman has said that the first step is to get a coaching staff in order. During that time, he will also be putting together summer programs and open gyms for those girls not in spring sports. Zolman says that the most important thing he is looking to do is to teach the fundamentals.

"I'm concentrating on the junior high program right now," Zolman said. "I'm a big stickler on the fundamentals being taught. A boys team without much talent must be very fundamentally sound. When the girls come to the high school, I want them to know the fundamentals. I don't want to have to teach them all over again."

Zolman's coaching experience includes his 10 years at Wawasee as the junior varsity basketball coach and as a varsity assistant since 1995. He was also the assistant coach and reserve coach at Bloomington South High School and coached at Bob Knight's Basketball Summer Camp. He began his coaching career as a junior high coach and assistant varsity coach at Churubusco High School, where he graduated in 1977.

As the junior high coach at Churubusco, Zolman had a record of 41-23, including two ACAC championships. As the JV coach at Bloomington South and Wawasee, he had a career record of 72-66. [[In-content Ad]]