Kim Hayes, second from left, talks to her Jonathan Alder volleyball team during a break in the action. Hayes took over the team early in the season and led it to the Central Buckeye Conference title.
(Journal-Tribune photo by Tim Miller)
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Hayes did standout job guiding Pioneer spikers on very short notice
I’ve been putting away all of my notes on the 2017 fall sports season, but I thought there was another column that needed to be written.
It’s about the job that Kim Hayes did when she took over the head coaching duties of the Jonathan Alder High School volleyball team.
Hayes, who was a standout spiker at Fairbanks High School as Kim Headings, was not the Lady Pioneers’ head coach to start the season.
She had originally agreed to serve on the staff as a volunteer assistant coach.
Just days into the season, head coach Matt Craycraft resigned for personal reasons.
The Lady Pioneers and the athletic administration found themselves with the dilemma of who was going to guide the team for the remainder of the season.
Athletic director Tom Vargo approached Hayes about taking the job. She had previously served as Jonathan Alder’s head coach for one winning season a little more than 20 years ago.
She was contacted by district officials on a Friday evening, agreed to take the job and met with the team the next morning.
Hayes told me she wanted to take over the squad as a way to make for a smooth transition to a new head coach.
Her move from assistant coach to the top position reminds me of the situation that Justin George faced a couple of years ago with the Fairbanks boys basketball program.
George was planning to continue as the Panthers’ JV coach, but the head coach stepped down on the first day of preseason practice.
George took over the top spot and will enter his third season at the helm this winter.
Hayes didn’t have quite as nerve-racking a transition as George, but I’m sure it still caused some stress.
Hayes did a remarkable job, taking over the position like she did.
The Lady Pioneers won 18 matches on the season, including their first tournament contest. They also claimed the Central Buckeye Conference championship during their first season in a new circuit.
Whether Hayes returns as the Lady Pioneers’ head coach next year is something of which I’m uncertain.
I certainly, however, hopes she does.
She did a great job taking over the program on short notice and I feel she’ll continue Alder’s recent string of success on the volleyball court.