For longtime followers of the Westlake girls hoops program, the quick ascension of lifelong Chap Allison Wooley to the head coaching spot triggered one overwhelming reaction.

Finally!

However, such a response is quickly followed by another:

What took so long?

As in, why did a decade pass before Westlake reached back into its glorious past for a coach schooled in the Westlake way?

It’s a fair question, based on the trajectory of the program. From 1990-2004, Westlake won 15 consecutive district titles and played in four state tournaments. The Chaps won state championships in 1993, 1995 and 1996.

Since reaching the state tournament in 2003 under Coach Laura Zouzalik, however, Westlake has gradually slipped. The Chaps haven’t won a district title since 2004, and they captured just two playoff wins in the past seven years.

Al Bennett, Westlake’s volleyball coach and the school district’s assistant athletic director, admits that the past played a pivotal role in determining the girls hoops future.

“This is a return to our roots,” he said after the hiring of Wooley, a 2000 Westlake graduate. “We haven’t had that deep connection to Westlake in our head coaching spot in a while.”

Westlake’s drop from dominant to decent coincided with the departure of Coach Cathy Self-Morgan in 2000. Self-Morgan, now a coach and administrator in Duncanville, forged a dynasty in her 21 years at Westlake. Since she left, officials have gone beyond school walls three times to find a new head coach. Each hire – Mike Martin (2001), Zouzalik (2002-04) and Keith Smith (2005-10) – won their share of games, but none could slow the gradual slip in prestige for a program once the envy of Texas.

Wooley’s days on the Westlake courts came during the fading end of that Chap dynasty. A skilled forward with as much tenacity as talent, Wooley personified what made Westlake win in the 1990s. She played hard at each end of the court and didn’t shirk on any possession. With such a mindset trickling down an entire roster, Westlake became a feared playoff foe.

That mentality has too often disappeared in the past decade, but Wooley seems to have the right blend for a hard-nosed revival. At the age of 28, she can relate to players on and off the court. And with a resume that includes the Division III national championship at Trinity University in San Antonio as well as a national tournament MVP honor, she grabs a certain kind of respect that eluded Smith.

Although Wooley has never served as a head coach at the high school level, she has paid her dues on the bench. She worked as a graduate assistant at Trinity before a two-year stint as an assistant at Southwestern University in Georgetown. Wooley returned to Westlake in 2008 as an assistant to Smith.

Each coaching experience has forged a certain philosophy for Wooley; she says that she doesn’t lean on a particular system as much as a style of hard-nosed hoops with an emphasis on defense.

Wooley’s greatest challenge may come off the court. The Westlake program has suffered a drop in participation over the past few years, and Wooley must reverse that trend. Westlake has plenty of athletes on campus – check the depth in the volleyball program, and imagine some of those middle blockers in the paint rather than at the net.

Some question whether elite programs in girls basketball and volleyball can coincide on the same campus, but recent history offers an answer. Four schools – Westlake, Georgetown, Plano West and Cypress-Fairbanks – have competed in both the Class 5A volleyball and girls basketball tournaments this decade, including Westlake.

And remember: While Self led Westlake to three rings in the 1990s, Bennett managed to capture two banners for the volleyball team.
The Chaps’ volleyball program has maintained its elite status throughout the 2000s. With a new decade now dawning, it’s time for the girls hoops team to rejoin that club.