Pana school board dismisses Jan Braden as girls basketball coach after two seasons
Pana is searching for a new girls basketball coach.
The school board unanimously voted to dismiss Jan Braden as its girls high school basketball coach on Monday.
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Braden lasted two seasons with the Panthers. In his first season, Pana went 25-10 and reached the 2A sectional finals with star guard Anna Beyers before going 5-27 this past season.
“I can’t really comment on personnel issues, but at the end of the day, everyone that was involved felt like the program wasn’t headed in the direction, so the board put it 7-0 that we needed to make a change after this year and open up the search,” Pana superintendent Jason Bauer said on Tuesday.
Braden replaced Brent McKinney, who resigned after leading the Panthers to the 2A state finals.
Braden said he went from “a very good coach” to the scapegoat in a matter of one season. He added that he would still like to coach girls basketball elsewhere.
“I enjoyed the school,” Braden said. “I really enjoyed the girls and the program. I think in the coming years, they’re going to improve because of some of the things that we had done. At most times, we were starting three, four sophomores and maybe a junior, or something like that the whole time. I enjoyed my time there, I just wasn’t expecting this to happen after one poor season.”
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Also in the South Central Conference, Kevin Gray retired as the Gillespie girls basketball coach after 16 seasons.
According to the Alton Telegraph, he was stepping down because of his family’s move to Missouri. The Miners won their first regional title since 2012 and finished 26-8 overall this past season.
This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Pana dismisses Jan Braden as girls basketball coach
