7A/6A-Central Conference Girls

New coach making a swift transition at Alma

Codey Mann makes the switch this season as he takes over Alma’s girls basketball team after coaching boys basketball for 13 years at Russellville, including the past four as the Cyclones’ head coach.
Codey Mann makes the switch this season as he takes over Alma’s girls basketball team after coaching boys basketball for 13 years at Russellville, including the past four as the Cyclones’ head coach.

ALMA -- Codey Mann said the transition he and his family made as they moved from one town to another was rather smooth this summer.

"It was a great move for us, being closer to Mom and Dad and seeing them on an everyday basis," Mann said. "Our transition has been seamless. We sold our house the first day we put it on the market, and we found a house the same weekend in Alma.

"We come here and our kids love it. They have great friends and do something every weekend with them. We've really enjoyed it. I'm excited about being here and plan to be here for a long time."

There is another transition that Mann has made in the past few months. He spent the past 13 seasons as a boys basketball coach -- including the past four as a head coach -- at Russellville, where his teams compiled a 67-47 record and reached the semifinals of the Class 6A state playoffs last season.

Now he is in Alma to oversee the girls basketball program after Madelyn Flenor accepted another position. It's taken a little longer to adjust to this change, but Mann and his new players like the direction they are headed since he took the job in May.

" was so excited," said Cassie Cochran, one of three seniors on the team. "I was extremely overwhelmed by the chance we're getting to increase what we could do and getting a chance for a new start.

"I feel like we get a lot more done. We've came together as a team. We communicate better. "

Mann admitted that he didn't spend much time watching girls basketball during his time at Russellville. While the girls played their games, he was usually in his office preparing for the boys game.

That doesn't me he didn't do his homework before accepting the Alma job. Much of the time was spent talking to his best friend Steve Wiedower, the former Russellville girls coach who recently returned to UALR, and he spent time talking with former Rogers High boys coach Marty Barnes and UALR Coach Joe Foley.

"Coach Foley had once coached boys, then went to girls," Mann said. "Now everybody that has made that transition has told me that you'll never go back and coach boys and that they really enjoyed coaching girls.

"It's very enjoyable right now. The girls are wanting to do it your way, and they're going to work hard for you. That's not to say that boys don't, but sometimes you have to put the fear in them in order to do some stuff you want them to do."

Mann went to work right away and made the hourlong drive daily to work with his team while school was still in session. He took the Airedalettes to four team camps during the summer, and they worked five days a week when they could.

It didn't take long for some of his players to realize basketball under Mann was going to be a completely different style.

"It was definitely different than any practice we've ever experienced through our high school career," senior Sydney Dunbar said. "We were taken aback a little. We were surprised and shocked, but here we are now. We were tired, and it was a punch to the gut. It's much better now."

Mann has made some adjustments to his style of play. While he believed in fast-paced play and stiff man defense with Russellville's boys, he said Alma's girls will be more deliberate on offense and work for good shots while mixing in some zone defense at times.

What he won't change is the need for the Airedalettes to work during practice. Team workouts are usually two hours and include a short session in the weight room, where he has already seen improvement in the girls' strength.

"These practices are not easy," senior Jacy Jones said. "They'll push you to the limit, but that's what he wants. He wants every minute of the game to be like practice is. He wants it to be 100 percent all the time. It was a whole new feeling when he came in. He brought in a whole lot of new energy that we've been missing for a long time.

"It was good. It's change, and a change for the better. It is 10 times better than what it was."

Sports on 11/08/2015

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