MORGANTOWN—University High School athletic director Jeff Bailey announced on Wednesday that Samuel Lusk will succeed his father, Nick, as head coach of the UHS girls basketball team.
Samuel has served as an assistant for his father for the past four seasons at UHS and has experience as a head coach at St. Francis Middle School, serving at the helm of the girls’ basketball team.
“It means a lot to me to have this opportunity,” Samuel said. “From the time I started coaching, I knew I wanted to do it at this level. As time has passed, I’ve realized the impact you can have on young people through sports for the rest of their lives. I’m as confident as they come, but the student athlete’s development is my passion. We will work our tails off to win games and work equally hard to develop these student-athletes to be ready for anything after high school.”
Samuel, a Morgantown High graduate and teacher, played for the MHS basketball team as a student.
Samuel’s dad will remain an assistant on the team, but Samuel will be the head coach. He says he is glad his dad is staying to help with some of the more complicated things to get used to.
“We had a lot of discussion, making sure it was the right time to make this decision, but ultimately I wanted the opportunity to run a program the way I see it, and we felt like this was the right time to take the next step,” Samuel said. “Having my dad around to help with some of the administrative things will be a huge help because that learning curve will be smaller, and I can focus on more program-building.”
Samuel says he’s excited to see how putting his spin on the program will look.
“As with any coaching change, there will be different things I want to see emphasized,” he said. “My dad is a great coach and has been a great example to me, but I’m also my own coach with a unique point of view, and I’m looking forward to seeing how it plays out.”
Nick Lusk was 52-38 in four seasons as girls’ head coach at UHS, with the latest having ended with a Region I co-championship and a trip to Charleston for the state tournament.
