Lady Jays expected to name Sauser as their next head coach

With the approval of the Guthrie Board of Education, the Guthrie High School girls’ basketball program has found their next head coach.

Guthrie Sports Page has learned Cory Sauser is expected to be named the next Lady Jays head coach.

The school board will meet June 12.

Sauser, 41, spent last season as the head coach for Pond Creek-Hunter after being promoted from an assistant coach for the Pond Creek’s boys’ basketball team.

The Lady Panthers advanced to the Class A state semifinals this past March and finished with a 21-7 record under Sauser.

“I have a passion for coaching and to serve as a life coach and teach some life lessons,” Sauser told the Enid News & Eagle last May. “I’ve coached a lot of sports, but I am a basketball guy if I had to choose.”

He played four years of high school basketball in Wisconsin, making the state tournament each year, including a 27-0 championship in his senior season. He played junior college basketball at Madison, Wisc.

Sauser had previous coaching stops as girls head basketball head coach at Wakita and was an assistant at Cashion and at Enid in 2009-2010.

The Lady Jays finished 7-16 this past season under interim coach Sherrie Simek, who announced her resignation from the school district in April.

Simek and the basketball program was put in a difficult spot last October when then head coach Jack Hankins resigned just days before the start of practice to go into private business. Hankins coached two seasons and finished with a 27-22 record.