St. John’s Catholic High School announced on Tuesday that Leah Bergmann is the new head girls basketball coach for the St. John’s/Tipton Lady Jays. Bergmann fills the position that has been open since this past March when longtime coach Keith Kresin was not retained.
The name of the new coach is clearly familiar, as Leah is the wife of Lance Bergmann who has been the head coach of the Blujays’ boys hoops team since 2009.
Bergmann has spent some time in the past in different capacities in the sport. Originally from Omaha, NE, she developed her game at Central Christian School. She went on to play basketball and run track at Mid-America Nazarene University in Olathe. She also helped run basketball camps for longtime MNU men’s coach Rocky Lamar during summers. While this will be Bergmann’s first head high school coaching job, she has spent time in the past as the junior high boys coach at St. John’s/Tipton.
Bergmann takes over a girls team that went 19-3 in 2018-19, but did lose senior post players Kara Eilert and Elle Eilert to graduation. Leading scorer Lauryn Dubbert does return, though, with a host of others contributors for 2019-20.
At KD Country 94 & Z 96.3 Sports, we had a chance to catch up with Bergmann and talk with her about the decision. She was hesitant to take the job at first, but explains why she did.
As far as on the court, Bergmann spoke about her coaching philosophy and especially on defense.
For our full interview with Leah Bergmann, click the link below
