The Wenatchee High School girls basketball team will have a new coach at the helm for the 2016-17 school year: WHS math teacher Patrick Loftus.

A panel of current coaches, parents, and players interviewed three prospective applicants and chose the new head coach. “He had a very good presentation and he was prepared and excited to become a head coach,” Athletic Director Jim Beeson said.

Loftus was formerly the boys junior varsity head coach for three seasons.

“I felt that he understands what it takes to run a successful program,” Beeson said. “Coming from a successful boys program with head coach [Travis] Williams, he should be able to do just as well as a girls head coach. Coaching basketball is coaching basketball, whether it be girls or boys he can use the same tactics for both.”

Loftus is looking forward to becoming a head coach because of the rewarding aspects that go along with coaching high schoolers.

“As a coach, the week of practice leading up to a game is where you can have the greatest impact,” Loftus said. “The reward is seeing the concepts from practice translate during the games and seeing the team execute the plan.”

Before coming to the Wenatchee area, Loftus played high school and college basketball in the Philadelphia area, taught and coached on the Navajo Reservation in Arizona, then moved back to Philadelphia to teach high school and coach college basketball.

“The relationship Loftus has with Williams will strengthen the basketball program as a whole, instead of the girls and boys being separate,” Beeson said.

This position fulfills Loftus’ aspirations of becoming a head coach.

“Being a head coach has always been a goal of mine and this was a great opportunity,” Loftus said. “There is a great group of players involved and there is a great athletic tradition here at Wenatchee.”