Walters returns to lead Hamilton girls' basketball program
Jul. 27—HAMILTON — Terry Walters was offered the opportunity to come back where it all started, and he gladly accepted it.
Walters is set to take over as the next head coach for the Hamilton Lady Lions' basketball team after being approved in early July.
"The community here at Hamilton has been extremely good to me, and they've seemed to welcome me back with open arms," he said. "It feels like I'm back at home."
Walters, an Aberdeen native, coached at Hamilton from 1985 to 1999, coaching both boys' and girls' basketball for five years and just girls for 13 years. After stepping down from his job as principal at the Becker Attendance Center in 2004, Walters spent the next 10 years as the principal and head girls' basketball coach at Hatley.
Walters most recently coached at Columbus Christian Academy from 2014 to 2017 and Oak Hill Academy from 2020 to 2023.
"I was sitting at home not doing anything, and they called wanting to know if I'd be interested," he said. "I thought about it, and they made an offer. I look at it like this, most retirees will go play golf in the hot sun for two hours a day, but I'd rather sit in a cool gym playing basketball for two hours and helping our students become better individuals and basketball players."
With years of coaching experience, Walters hopes to build up the Lady Lions' program by teaching fundamentals and helping his players understand the game.
"I'll teach the fundamentals and try to get them to understand the flow of the game as a whole," he said. "If the fundamentals start coming around, and they start to understand the game, good things will happen for them."
Despite just recently starting summer practice, Walters said that he has seen some positive things from his new group.
"We started practice in the middle of July and so far, it's been very positive," he said. "The girls have responded well, and they're working hard. We've got a long way to go, but hopefully, if they keep working hard, we'll get there before the season starts. All I ask is that they give me 100 percent every night. Whatever the scoreboard says doesn't matter because if we play hard and learn from the game, it's a win for us."
As the Lady Lions move up to Class 2A to face teams like East Union, New Site, Walnut and Hatley, Walters reflected on getting the opportunity to coach against his daughter, Hatley coach Shelley Scott, for the first time in 15 years.
"We've played against each other a couple of times already, so we're going to know everything that each other does," he said. "When she was at Nettleton, I was at Columbus Christian, and when I was at Hatley, she was at East Union. It'll be different this year, but we're competitors and will have our teams ready to go no matter who we play."
Walters will replace long-time Hamilton coach Sue Verner, who he coached during his first stint with the Lady Lions.
"Coach (Sue) Verner played for me back in the early 90s, and she was my starting point guard when we made it to the state tournament finals. She did an excellent job back then," he said. "With that in mind, these girls should know what I expect from them because Coach Verner knew what I expected out of my kids. Hopefully, they have an upper hand coming from behind, and hopefully, that'll make us better."
