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Ashland, Oregon HOME Valley & State Sports Nation & World Opinion/Editorial Classifieds Business Columnists Obituaries Weather Archive Hot Topics Forum Photo Gallery Revels Etcetera Backpage O-Zone Real Estate Guide Menu Guide Shakespeare Subscribe Contact Us Rate Card Place an Ad Online Games January 27, 2006 Kennedy staying positive SOU women’s coach still believes in his team after recent suspensions By Alan Panebaker Ashland Daily Tidings Southern Oregon University women’s basketball coach Lynn Kennedy is like the nice-guy uncle. As he meets his team for their 6 a.m. practice — five days a week at McNeal Pavilion — the first-year coach gets into the game as he runs up and down the court running drills and slowing things down to give pointers. This year’s women’s team is made up of all juniors and younger, and although it has had its setbacks — SOU is 3-8 in Cascade Conference games entering tonight’s game against first-place Warner Pacific — Kennedy said the team is growing into its own and the next season should be much better. Southern Oregon women's basketball coach Lynn Kennedy (right) looks on during a recent game at McNeal Pavilion. Kennedy still believes his team has a shot at reaching the Cascade Conference playoffs. Ken Royce | For the Tidings “With any new position, you’ve got to get a good mix of chemistry,” Kennedy said. “Here we’ve got a good fit. We know how to compete, and we’re working on how to get better. The challenge is getting better every day.” Kennedy, who was hired away from New Mexico Highlands University, has been coaching basketball for more than a decade. A Eugene native, he has played for Northwest University and Northwest Christian College. In his coaching tenure at Highlands, Kennedy took a team with a 4-22 record in the 2002-2003 season to an 18-11 record last season. With what will most likely be a large contingent of returners next season, the Raiders have the potential to reclaim their standing among the conference’s elite programs, a place SOU remained throughout the 90s. “We’re trying to find our way about us,” Kennedy said. Kennedy still has some hills to climb at Southern Oregon, but his friendly demeanor and tight relationships with players should help smooth the bumpy path that lies ahead. “He’s easy to approach,” SOU junior guard Jenna Ayers said. “He’s more of a hands-on coach.” Ayers and junior forward Emily Brough agreed that Kennedy’s easy-going, involved coaching style is helping the team improve and grow into its own. “It’s a positive atmosphere,” Brough said. The Raiders have struggled mightily since an impressive preseason run, but a road win against Evergreen State last Saturday has put the team in the playoff hunt. The key for this year’s team, Kennedy says, is its depth and teamwork. “It’s been a good team effort,” he said. “We don’t have any one individual who does everything.” With such a close-knit bunch, it was especially hard for Kennedy when he had to suspend six players recently for team policy violations. “They just violated some rules, and they should be back next week,” Kennedy said. Although the team will be shorthanded for this weekend’s games, Kennedy and his players have a mutual respect for the rules they laid out for each other at the beginning of the season. “Any time you lose a teammate, it’s like losing a member of your family,” Ayers said. “But we set some rules, and they broke them.” As the Raiders head into tonight’s game, Kennedy is confident that his team has what it takes to finish in the top-eight and make the playoffs. Regardless of how the team ends up this year, Kennedy is always looking ahead to the next challenge. While coaching is a way for Kennedy to pursue the competitive drive that he developed as a player, he said he prefers coaching women and loves to break the game down. In his 11 years of coaching, Kennedy has only coached one boys team, and that was at the high school level. “You do more fundamentals with women,” he said. “It’s more of a pure game.” It is this purity of sport that keeps Kennedy coaching. He hopes to keep building the team each year and plans to stay for a while. Kennedy’s wife, Amy, is finishing a master’s degree at New Mexico Highlands, and his children, Graycen and Parker, are enrolled in school in Ashland. Kennedy said he has started doing some recruiting for next season and has two prospects already — one from Centralia, Wash., and another from Portland. He said he will do most of the recruiting in the spring. For now, Kennedy’s focused on taking this year’s team as far as possible while also building toward next season. “We’re just looking forward to being better and better every year,” he said. Alan Panebaker is a correspondent for the Ashland Daily Tidings. To comment on this article, contact Sports Editor Joe Zavala at 482-3456 ext. 3020 or [email protected]. --> Copyright © 2006 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers. All Rights Reserved.