Paint Branch High has named former player Rochelle Coleman as the school’s new girls’ varsity head basketball coach after she spent the last two years as a varsity assistant and junior varsity head coach.
Coleman, 28, replaces Dan Feher, who resigned after one season at the Burtonsville public school.
“It’s a big deal,” Coleman said about coaching at her alma mater. “I want to make sure I’m able to maintain the tradition that was established when I was there.”
During a stellar high school career, Coleman was a four-year starter at Paint Branch, where she led the Panthers to three state tournament appearances including the 3A state title in 2001. As a senior, Coleman averaged 17.4 points per game and 8.3 rebounds and graduated as the school’s all-time leading scorer.
Coleman played collegiately at Syracuse, where she competed against top-level competition in the Big East Conference and “learned a lot about how to play the game of basketball.”
During her four-year career at Syracuse, Coleman helped lead the Orange to an NCAA Tournament appearance as a freshman and was a team leader during her senior campaign.
“It was always fun to always have to go against top competition night in and night out,” said Coleman, who led the Orange in assists as a senior.
She graduated from Syracuse with 152 3-point field goals, which ranked third on the school’s all-time list.
Coleman played professionally in Holland for one season before embarking on a coaching career. She had a brief coaching stint as an assistant at Slippery Rock University in Pennsylvania before returning to her high school alma mater to coach and has come full circle over the last 10 years.
“She was an outstanding high school player,” said Paint Branch Athletic Director Heather Podosek, who coached Coleman at Paint Branch.
Podosek described Coleman’s personality as “intense” and “passionate” and believes she will bring those traits to the bench this year.
Coleman said she plans to heed the advice Podosek once gave her.
“The tradition never graduates,” said Coleman, who takes over a Paint Branch team that won only seven games last season. “I want to maintain what was established. I expect us to be hardworking. I expect us to be better than we were last year."
