Eric Pouncy, Jr. recently met with returning players and their families after he was named head coach of the Scott High School girls basketball program.
The 27-year old graduated from the Taylor Mill school in 2013 and has served in assistant coaching roles in boys programs at Scott and Holmes.
Pouncy is an insurance broker in downtown Cincinnati in addition to coaching.
“It’s awesome. I’ve talked with my wife, it’s something I’ve dreamed about,” Pouncy said. “Just from being in this building when I did go to school here and the people I had around me, everybody was great. The big thing with Taylor Mill and Scott is it’s all community. That’s something I have in my everyday job. That’s something that made me want to come back here.”
Pouncy spent the previous season on the Holmes boys staff as an assistant to head coach Brad Carr, who was head coach at Scott while Pouncy was there.
Pouncy also served as an assistant on the Scott boys staff under current head coach Steve Fromeyer, who said hiring former players who want to be coaches has been important to him since he took the job in 2016. Pouncy took up a love for the game at a young age and has been around the Scott boys program since the sixth grade.
“For what it’s worth, Eric is an outstanding human being, who happens to be a good basketball coach,” Fromeyer tweeted. “He will surround himself with good people, and will be great in teaching, communicating with the young women of our community. There were solid candidates for this job and any one of them would have been great. But selfishly for me, I’m really proud of the young men who’ve come back here to make a difference and fight the fights that are worth fighting.”
The Lady Eagles moved into the 10th Region in 2005. Since then, they’ve gone to the region championship game twice. In 2016, Scott lost 62-45 to 37th District rival Campbell County and in 2018, lost 68-56 to eventual state semifinalist George Rogers Clark.
“We’re extremely excited,” said Casey Fisk, Scott director of athletics. “Eric was one of the first people that reached out to me when we first posted the job as an interest. We sort of looked over the resumes and definitely felt he was someone worth giving an interview to. He definitely shined in his interview.”
Pouncy has coached both boys and girls in Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) basketball. He’s a 15- and 17-and-under director and coach for the Kentucky Select AAU program. The Northern Kentucky Tarheels are Kentucky Select’s oldest national AAU basketball program in Northern Kentucky.
“I’m a laid-back coach. I’m not going to get in the face of people, sit there scream and yell at them,” Pouncy said. “That’s just not my style of coaching. I’d rather talk to them and try to figure out what is going on for them and what the best ways are they can succeed. It’s better if everyone stays together. Team basketball is a big thing for me. If you see somebody is down, talk them back up. Make sure they’re in the right frame of mind. I feel if people are down, that brings the team down.”
During his official interview with the school and during the Q-and-A with parents, Pouncy was asked about how he would handle conflict between players. He said it involves having a drill between the two players where they have to compete against each other then put them together on a team later in practice depending on how that works out.
“I’d rather the people that are fighting try to go at each other so then you get that out of the way, then you build that team back up,” Pouncy said. “Communication is probably the biggest thing. As long as they come talk to me, it’s easier to fix than try to assume. Body language is huge for me. If you have bad body language, you have to come out. That’s going to have a domino effect for everybody that’s there.”
Pouncy is working on assembling his coaching staff which will include coach Pete Ohmer, Jr.
Pouncy said he’s looking forward to the challenges against Bishop Brossart and Campbell County in the 37th District along with battles in the 10th Region against teams like Mason County, Montgomery County and George Rogers Clark. The Lady Eagles own one district championship in 2019 since 2005. Campbell County and Bishop Brossart have won the other ones. Calvary Christian has not participated in a district tournament since 2019.
“It’s all going to be (about) preparation and starting that early, not waiting until midway through the season,” Pouncy said. “I want to see those teams in all their phases – their beginning phase, their late phase and if they peek early, see their strengths and weaknesses. That’s what I’ve done in the past. Watch a lot of film. If I can get to games, that’s something I’ll do because that can also find different tendencies of players and just watch that closely.”
Scott has seen a number of solid players come through the program over the years including 2011 graduate Lauren Tibbs, 2019 graduate Summer Secrist, 2018 alumna Anna Clephane and 2021 graduate Mya Meredith.
Tibbs played collegiately at Marquette University and Bowling Green State University (Ohio). Secrist helped the Thomas More Saints women’s basketball team to a National Association for Intercollegiate Athletics crown this past season. Clephane averaged 16.2 points last season at Ball State as the Cardinals lost 79-75 to Buffalo in the Mid-American Conference championship game this past season.
Meredith received the Conference USA Freshman of the Year award despite missing the last eight games of the season due to injury for the Western Kentucky University Hilltoppers. She averaged 12.7 points and 5.1 rebounds per game. Western Kentucky finished 18-12.
“That’s what I want to do is build it even if it’s with younger girls,” Pouncy said. “If you can get in there and compete at the varsity level, that’s where you’ll be. The big thing is preparing. Injuries happen. It’s next woman up.”
Scott finished 31-53 in the last three seasons under Steve Brown, who recently took the same job at district rival Bishop Brossart. The Lady Eagles are coming off an injury-riddled 12-19 campaign. Scott finished 16-9 two years ago losing 55-47 to Bishop Brossart in the district title game before driving to the 10th Region semifinals and losing a tight 54-53 decision against Montgomery County.
Scott graduated just two seniors from this past season in guards Macy Campbell and Payton Fields. Campbell averaged 9.3 points and 5.4 rebounds per game.
Senior 5-foot-7 guard Autumn Ponder is the leading returning scorer at 9.7 points per game. Senior forward Madelyn Wilson showed promise in two games averaging 12 points and 11.5 rebounds.
“I do feel excited about (the season),” Ponder said. “I think the clean slate with the coaching is going to help us a lot. I think he is going to work with us individually. I think he’s going to take time and care about all of us as a team. I think he’s really wanting our team to be a closer team than we’ve had before so that’s good. I think no matter what your individual goals are, you have to work for team goals as well. If everyone keeps that in mind, it’s going to be good.”
Eleven different players saw action in at least 22 games last year. After Ponder, Campbell and Fields, the other eight are senior forwards Kayla Overman, Kayla Peterson, senior guards Amberly Turner, Raegan Scheper, senior Francheska DeLuna, sophomore forwards Kaia Peterson, Arianna Patterson and sophomore guard Jayla Sanders.
Pouncy said the staff will look to see if some junior varsity players should be playing on varsity more. He’s open to players coming to him to discuss their needs.
“I have an open door policy,” Pouncy said. “I’d rather it come from the player. Just come directly to me so we can work on it right there instead of going a week and you’re still upset about your playing time and the way practices are going. That way we get those things fixed. If you’re not playing much varsity and you’re able to play JV, you should probably do both.”
Pouncy said he’d like to see the Lady Eagles run the floor. The plan is to run sets and a motion offensively. His preferred defense is man-to-man with an emphasis on ball gap and help side protection.
“The biggest thing is forming structure and making sure we’re doing things right,” Pouncy said. “In AAU, I never really run zone unless I have to because I don’t think it helps you develop your game as a player. A big thing at the college level is defense.”