Some people just get that feeling that it’s time for a change, or that our Heavenly Father is moving them to go in a different direction. Such was the case with Staci Simeroth.
Simeroth, who coached the last few seasons with the Gore Lady Pirates basketball team, went across the river to become the new coach with the Webbers Falls Lady Warriors, replacing Garren Weatherton, who stepped down after two years coaching them.
“I always trust God,” Simeroth said. “I always tell him if it’s time for me to move or change directions in my life, that I rely on him. The door opened, and it was a blessing from God. I prayed about it.”
Simeroth said it was not a hard decision.
“I trust God fully,” she said. “It was just an easy transition. I didn’t feel like I was having any kind of fight (against making the decision). I just believe that it was something that was meant to be.”
The change of schools has been a very smooth one for the new Webbers Falls Lady Warriors basketball coach.
“It was an easy transition,” Simeroth said. “I love the administration. They back me up. The kids are eager and ready to learn. I’m so excited for this (upcoming) year. I’ve got a pretty good group of girls. When we get things ironed out, I think we’re going to be really good.”
As is the case with a lot of new coaches, the new man or woman is totally foreign to the players. That wasn’t quite the case for Simeroth and the Lady Warriors as they and her former team, the Gore Lady Pirates, meet twice every season, since they’re only separated by just the Arkansas River. Simeroth said that little familiarity has helped her better mesh with her new team.
“It helped a little bit,” she said. “I know it’s a new coach and a new team. They’re kind of figuring me out just as I’m trying to figure them out. They’re learning me and how I do my style of ball. It’s different — every coach is different. That has probably been their biggest challenge. I want it done a certain way because it’s going to help them in the long run. That’s probably been the biggest challenge for them — learning me.”
Simieroth said her new players have taken to her very quickly, which has been a rather refreshing thing for her to experience.
“They have come full force,” Simeroth said. “I have kind of put a few in a different position that they’re not quite used to, and they’re taking it like a grain of salt. Anytime you get put into a different position, it’s really not fear — it’s just the fear of the unknown. Those first couple of (summer league) games, they’re kind of getting into that position of saying, ‘This is what my new job is,’ and they’ve took it and they’re doing it to the best of their abilities.”
While Simeroth lives north of Porum, being closer to home really didn’t factor into the decision to become the new Lady Warriors basketball coach.
“It’s a little closer to home,” she said. “I have to laugh at this because I can wake up five minutes later from what I normally do. It’s been an easy transition. I just get off at I-40 (at Oklahoma State Highway 100) and I’m here. There’s no having to go over the river.”
Simeroth said she can’t wait for Oct. 1, which falls on a Wednesday this year, to arrive, which is the first day of high school basketball practice for the upcoming 2025-26 season.
“I’m so excited,” she said. “I’m ready to get in the gym full time with these girls because I see little bits of their greatness that they want to kind of hold back just a little bit. I’m just like, ‘Give it to me just a little bit more.’ I’m just so excited to see how they are. They’re going to have success once we’re in the gym full time.”
