YOUNGSVILLE \u2013 Ascension Episcopal will be ushering in a new era of Blue Gators basketball when they take the floor next season.<\/p>\n
The Blue Gators have hired two new head basketball coaches in John Tanner, who will lead the boys program and Zach Frederick, who will take over the girls.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m very excited to be the new head coach,\u201d Frederick said. \u201cI\u2019m excited to have the chance to take on a leadership role.\u201d<\/p>\n
Frederick is very familiar with the Blue Gators having played for and coached under former Ascension Episcopal boys basketball coach Eric Mouton. Frederick played for Mouton from 2011-15 and served as an assistant for both programs last year.<\/p>\n
\u201cI grew up coming here and playing here,\u201d said Frederick, who prior to last year was an assistant coach at ESA for six seasons. \u201cI\u2019ve always wanted to be a head coach and I was open to either position.\u201d<\/p>\n
In Tanner, the Blue Gators are getting a coach with a lot of experience. This will be Tanner\u2019s fourth head coach opportunity having previously served in that role at Acadiana High, Oak Hill, Menard and Sacred Heart of Ville Platte.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey have some really good kids over there and I\u2019m really looking forward to working with them,\u201d Tanner said. \u201cI think it is a good fit for both sides.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tanner said one of the biggest reasons he wanted the Blue Gators\u2019 job was because \u201cthere is already a solid foundation.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe played against them a couple of times and I saw them a few times on film, and they impressed me,\u201d Tanner said. \u201cThey were very well-coached, and I look forward to building off of that.\u201d<\/p>\n
After 18 seasons, Mouton and the Blue Gators agreed to part ways. Despite the amount of success Mouton enjoyed with the Blue Gators, Tanner doesn\u2019t feel pressure being his successor.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wouldn\u2019t say pressure, but maybe a responsibility to do a good job with (the program),\u201d Tanner said. \u201cA responsibility to continue working hard, developing the kids on and off the court. But not necessarily pressure. I think it is going to be a good fit and we\u2019ll do well.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 28-year-old Frederick believes his familiarity with the Blue Gators\u2019 players will help in the transition.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have a good relationship with the girls already,\u201d Frederick said. \u201cI\u2019m glad we have someone that is taking over the program that knows them. They have so much potential.\u201d<\/p>\n
Frederick described himself as an energetic person that is \u201ca calming presence\u201d on the sidelines.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople can definitely expect a lot of energy from me,\u201d Frederick said. \u201cI have a positive attitude and I\u2019m defensive minded. We\u2019re going to be aggressive on defense and try to turn people over.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tanner said Blue Gator fans can expect to see \u201ca good product\u201d on the floor.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ll see kids that carry themselves very well,\u201d Tanner said. \u201cWe\u2019ll be a disciplined team who defends well and plays very unselfish and together.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"YOUNGSVILLE \u2013 Ascension Episcopal will be ushering in a new era of Blue Gators basketball when they take…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":45676,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3724],"tags":[7,5498],"class_list":{"0":"post-45675","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-basketball","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-hardwall"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114541379622873658","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45675","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45675"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45675\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45676"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}