After spending three years as an assistant coach under Tim LaTorra (the new Concord boys’ coach), Rob Darrell has slid over a chair to become the new head coach for the Concord girls’ basketball team. He has lots to build on after the Tide finished 2021-22 with a 15-4 record.
In addition to the three years he spent as the varsity assistant, Darrell also coached the current juniors and sophomores at the Boys and Girls Club and on the eighth grade team at Rundlett Middle School.
“My expectations are pretty high because I have known them for a while,” he said. “They know what I expect out of them.”
Darrell mentioned a renewed emphasis on defense as one of his key focuses since taking over the head coaching position, a bit of a shift from LaTorra’s offensive-minded style.
“We don’t really have a person out there that’s gonna take over and score 30 points for us,” he said. “So as a team, I’m trying to simplify the offense a little bit and make it more defensive-minded.”
After preseason jamborees and scrimmages, he’s still trying to figure out what works and what doesn’t, so there might be a bit of a transition period early in the season for the team to fully execute Darrell’s plans.
The biggest task will be replacing Elli Cox and Elizabeth Blinn, the starting point guard and center from last year’s team. This year’s co-captain, senior Rose Layton, broke her foot, so she’ll likely miss the first few weeks of games, according to Darrell.
Junior Delaney Duford, the other co-captain, should play a big role. Darrell highlighted her as one of the Tide’s best defenders last year and one of their better all-around players. In addition, he said he expects big contributions from juniors Aidah Smalley and Sofia Payne.
Last season ended in disappointment for Concord after No. 13 Londonderry upset the No. 4 Tide, 41-40 in the preliminary round of the D-I playoffs. Despite that upset and losing two of the starters from that team, the Tide’s goals remain lofty heading into 2022-23.
“We want to get into the final four,” Darrell said. “We want to win a championship, obviously, (but) the final four would be huge.”
Darrell was also sure to credit his predecessor for putting the program in the strong position it’s currently in. While he said that their coaching styles are a bit different, with Darrell honing in on defense more and LaTorra focused more on offense, they still like to bounce ideas off each other.
“Tim did a great job building this program,” Darrell said. “I’ve been around Concord a long time, and there’s nobody that I’ve seen do as good a job as he has done. I hope to continue that and make it even better.”