A new year and a new season brings new coaches to S.H.S. Sterling High School has three new coaches for this 2023-2024 winter season.
S.H.S. Wrestling head coach has been passed down to Nolan Baker for this winter season. Baker is a social studies teacher at S.H.S. and has recently started a ping pong club. Baker has been wrestling since he was three years old. In high school Baker won state both in 2016 and 2017 for wrestling. In 2019 Baker started training at the official Olympic training center in Colorado Springs all while going to school for teaching. After training, he won fifth at the Olympic trials. Baker loves teaching and wrestling as he explains “it’s the best of both worlds.” Baker loves working with kids and wants to continue his careers as both a teacher and wrestling coach.
Girls basketball has a new assistant coach, Cliff Bardell. Bardell is an eighth grade science teacher at C.M.S. and has been coaching girls and boys basketball since 1988. Bardell started his coaching career at Polo Middle School coaching seventh grade boys basketball, In 1995 he switched to girls seventh grade basketball in Polo. In 1996 Bardell moved to S.H.S. and became the freshman girls basketball coach, the following year he gained the role to be the sophomore girls basketball coach. Bardell continued coaching at S.H.S. until 2003. In 2004 he returned to Polo and was the girls varsity basketball head coach. He continued that position for 5 years. Bardell switched back to coaching boys basketball until 2021. From then he has recently been coaching eighth grade girls basketball at Challand Middle School until he got the role as varsity girls assistant coach here at S.H.S. Bardell loves basketball and the game plan he gets to create while coaching, “but nothing beats the relationships you build with your players.” Bardell is ready to show his passion this basketball season.
Girls basketball also welcomes Gordon Harris as a varsity assistant coach. Harris has been coaching for 15 years. Before coming to S.H.S. Harris originally has been coaching for the girls basketball Outwork Elite travel team. Harris is familiar with most of the sophomore and freshman basketball players by coaching them for their travel teams in the past.
Sterling High School is delighted to see what these new coaches can bring to the table for this winter season. New coaches also bring new perspectives and can switch up the game plan for the better as the season goes on.
