Bethany girls basketball coach Eric Sailer is stepping down from that role, the school announced Friday (March 13).

When Sailer took over before the 2017-18 season, the program had three coaches in four years.

“We had to build some stability and a culture,” Sailer said via text to West Metro Sports. “We knew we had to find our community and encourage their support.”

Sailer began doing Champions Camps during the summer and after school, reaching out to the youth of Bethany.

“By doing this a we built something special.”

Sailer said he knew girls wouldn’t play basketball unless they had a friend in the program. So, the coaching staff created ‘family groups’ within the team.

“Making our team smaller so we could stay healthy and encourage girls to stick with it,” Sailer said.

The family groups did activities like pumpkin and gingerbread house decorating contests and other events to build team unity.

As the culture, the wins started to stack up. Over the last five years, the Bronchos have a record of 119-23 (an 84 percent winning percentage.

Along with that came district championships, regional championships, area championships, three state tournament appearances, and two 4A state titles.

The program has sent several players to collegiate careers including Lauryn Scalice (Southeastern and Nelson), Avery Marchino (Seward County in Kansas), Zya Vann (Oklahoma), Kayten Donley (Oral Roberts), Keziah Lofton (Oklahoma) and Talia Vann (Stephen F. Austin).

Sailer said he would miss the grind of early morning practices.

“I will miss watching players grow on and off the court through the help of our program,” Sailer said.

Sailer pointed out the several girls basketball team members became leaders in the Bethany High School community as class officers, student council officers and so on.

Sailer said he will miss team dinners, summer team camps and bus rides from “huge wins and big losses.”

“I will miss turning around and seeing the community that we built at the state tournament packed out our side of the stands from the bottom to the top!” Sailer said. “But most of all, I will miss the relationships that we have built with the girls over this 9-year span.

“This program is in much better shape now then it was nine years ago. I am excited to see who they bring in to continue this run we have started.”

Prior to Bethany, Sailer spent four years as the head girls basketball coach at Yukon. He was also an assistant at Yukon and at Edmond Memorial. Sailer also coached football and tennis with the Bulldogs.

Sailer will continue to teach physical education at the district’s Earl Harris Elementary.

THE SAILER FILE

2013-2014	Yukon	16-8
2014-2015	Yukon	13-13	6A Area Tournament
2015-2016	Yukon	12-12
2016-2017	Yukon	11-12
2017-2018	Bethany	6-19
2018-2019	Bethany	8-16
2019-2020	Bethany	11-6	4A Area Tournament
2020-2021	Bethany	6-12
2021-2022	Bethany	19-6	4A Area Tournament
2022-2023	Bethany	29-1	4A State Champion
2023-2024	Bethany	26-4	4A State Champion
2024-2025	Bethany	21-7	4A State Tournament
2025-2026	Bethany	24-5	4A Area Tournament
2013-2017	Yukon	52-45
2017–2026	Bethany	156-76
TOTAL	13 Seasons	208-121

Photographs courtesy of Kristie Escoe of Life in Action Photography.
Photographs courtesy of Hunter Sheppard.