'A dream come true' for Jim Dempsey to lead Pocono Mountain West girls basketball
Jim Dempsey has some big shoes to fill as he prepares to succeed Chrissy Campos as head coach of Pocono Mountain West girls basketball. Dempsey sat down with the Pocono Record to discuss his basketball journey and expectations for the upcoming season.
Where were you coaching before you took the job at Pocono Mountain West?
I've been to a few places. Before I took the job at West, I was at Pocono Mountain East with my brother Corey, who's now my varsity assistant, as a volunteer coach with the freshman boys team. Prior to that, I was at Mid Valley High School. I was there with coach Mike Abda and my dad was also on the staff. My dad also coached the Marywood University women's basketball team when I was younger, so that was kind of a dream come true to be able to go sit the bench with my dad.
Before Mid Valley, I was at Notre Dame - East Stroudsburg, coaching with Coach Bob Mullen, another legend in the area. I was his varsity assistant and JV coach.
Why this job? Why not another coaching job?
It's been a dream come true to get a teaching job here. I'm all in on Pocono Mountain, especially Pocono Mountain West. So when that job opened up, I jumped at it and interviewed and was lucky enough to have the opportunity to get selected here.
I've known a lot of the players from when they were in fourth grade when I taught them, so it's been a dream come true to be able to coach for our school with players that I knew from our system.
Obviously it's a challenge to succeed after a legendary coach. What is it like following in Chrissy Campos' footsteps and leading the program?
Not fixing what isn't broken, and running with a lot of the the pieces that that coach Campos had in place. A funny thing about this was I knew coach Campos and Stacy Perryman, two fantastic coaches in the area, they're legends. My dad tried to recruit them at at Marywood, so he had that connection with them.
One of the first things I did when I found out I was hired was I reached out to coach Campos, and went out with her and her husband, Eric. We got dinner and talked about the program, what she did last year when she saw with the program, and what her vision was for the future.
It was great to sit down and get to hear. It almost helped me get a running start as to knowing what I had coming back.
No two coaches are the same. So what are some things that may be unique about Coach Dempsey's varsity girls squad at Pocono Mountain West?
I'm looking to bring a team that communicates. In any team I coach, communication has been vital on and off the court. We're looking to bring a defense that's going to be up tempo. A big part in any team is accountability. So we're looking for accountability on the court off the court.
We're invested in these players as people. It's not a four or five months of the year job for us. This is year-round. That's been a big thing to build, that culture.
This article originally appeared on Pocono Record: Q&A with new Pocono Mountain West girls basketball coach Jim Dempsey
