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Photos by Kyle Parmley.
Homewood’s Anna Grace Gibbons (12) looks to pass.
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Photos by Kyle Parmley.
Homewood’s Brinley Cassell (3) drives during a game against Thompson on Dec. 14 at Warrior Arena in Alabaster.
Kevin Tubbs can still find that old extension cord.
That’s because it’s in the same place he left it.
Tubbs is back at Homewood High School, where he served as athletic director and girls basketball coach through the 2016-17 year. He has returned to the school after a couple years in Seattle and resumed his role as coach.
“It’s been interesting,” he said in early October, ahead of the outset of the season. “I kind of jumped right in and went from no team to now I’ve got a team.”
The Lady Patriots found themselves in need of a new coach after Jazmine Powers took the job at Bob Jones, a school closer to her hometown of Decatur. The timing worked out perfectly with Tubbs’ move back to the area.
He was hired in time to run the team through tryouts in the spring and was encouraged by what he saw.
“We were able to get the numbers back up, which was pretty big for us,” he said. “We got back up above 20, so we had enough to have a JV (team). Even in the good run, we never had a JV. It’s good to have that many kids back involved.”
Tubbs was part of JoVanka Ward’s staff when Homewood won its first Class 6A state championship in 2015 and led the team to the title in 2017. Life has been a bit tougher since the core of those teams graduated, and the Lady Patriots struggled to a 10-18 mark last season. They lost their last 13 contests after a 10-5 start.
“You could see it on their faces. This is a group that was used to winning,” Tubbs said.
In the summer, Tubbs was pleased with how the Lady Patriots played and believes last year’s experience will pay dividends now. He has re-installed his system, in which the team will play fast on offense and mix up plenty of matchup zone and press on defense.
“We’re trying to instill playing fast,” he said, “because that’s how I think the game should be played. I don’t want to sit in the stands and watch a game in the 30s and 40s, personally.”
Helping the transition is a coaching staff familiar with Tubbs, the way he does things and the personnel on the team. Bryan Burgess, Mark McCaleb and Arica Moss were all at Homewood in Tubbs’ first tenure.
As far as the roster, Kennedy Campbell and Kassidy Schnoer are the team’s two seniors. Schnoer played on the state championship team as a freshman but took last year off.
“That’s a huge addition,” Tubbs said.
The roster is junior heavy, with Brinley Cassell, Anna Grace Gibbons, Kate Gann, Anna Harbin, Alex Hershbine and Sydney Taylor. Cassell will likely be the primary ball-handler, and Gibbons is a strong shooter. Tubbs said he expects all the juniors to contribute heavily.
TaNya Pedger, Rika Kellen, Olivia Outman, Katelyn Pope and Caidyn Cannon round out the team as sophomores. Pledger is relatively new to organized basketball, and Tubbs said he expects big things from her. Outman transferred in from McAdory, and Cannon is back after leading the Lady Patriots in scoring several times as a freshman.
Homewood begins the season on Nov. 7, when it hosts Fultondale. The Lady Patriots also play the likes of Helena, Oak Mountain, Carver-Birmingham, Chelsea and Thompson in November, in addition to playing in the Spartan Turkey Jam at Mountain Brook.
