The girls’ soccer program has hired a new assistant coach, John Cody. Coach Cody was first introduced to the girls during a strength and conditioning session after school. The girls liked his mindset about soccer and overall outlook on how this season would go.
“My first impression of him was that he was very determined. After his introduction, he went right into talking about the importance of leadership and what we can do as a team to improve in the off-season,” Macy Hargis (11) said.
His demeanor and positive attitude will add a lot to the atmosphere of the girls’ program.
“I think he’s a positive role model, which I think is something that we need in our program. Um, I think that he’s gonna be very encouraging and really gel with our, like, atmosphere that we’ve created as a team,” girl’s varsity head coach and math teacher Kelsey Etherton said.
His coaching past has made him a good fit for Highlands because it shows he is knowledgeable and will bring a new perspective to the program due to him coaching on the boys’ side too.
“He’s actually coached on the boy’s side a lot. His most recent experience was up at Wyoming High School up in Ohio, and they won, I think, the last two state championships. He coached at the JV level up there, so that developmental spot was trying to get kids prepared for the varsity level, and then those varsity kids moved on and won a state championship or two. So I think that experience shows a lot,” Etherton said.
Since he has experience with different schools and experience coaching the boys’ side of soccer, he will bring a lot of new ideas and new perspectives to the program.
“I think he will bring a new perspective to the team, which will help with many different aspects. It will be cool to see how his coaching style evolves as he gets to know the team more. This new perspective will be super beneficial when playing new teams because we will have another set of ideas/opinions to work around problems,” Hargis said.
The process for hiring new coaches is a long process that involves a lot of interviews, and having personal connections can help during the hiring process because it is good to know some of the applicants on a personal level to know what kind of person they are when going into the interview.
“Wes posted the job a couple of months ago. When our season ended, we had a handful of people apply to it. Then, I reached out to all those people and conducted interviews. I also reached out to some people that I know in the soccer community and asked them about things, and the person that we ended up hiring is actually somebody that I know. He applied, and I had reached out to him about coming on and helping out,” Etherton said.
At the end of the interviews, it is up to the head coach to ask questions to herself to narrow down who the best fit would be for the culture at Highlands High School.
“So it’s just a matter of like, who do I think? Because it does kind of help come down to my decision. Who do I think will fit in well with our culture? And will be able to do the things that I can’t do, or I don’t have time to do, or I need help doing,” Etherton said,
Making sure he fits in with not only the culture but will mesh with the other coaches on the staff is important too.
“I think he will collaborate very well with other coaches, specifically Coach Kelsey. Coach Kelsey and he have previous soccer connections due to him coaching her in soccer, which will be great in terms of open communication. I think he will be a strong male role model to us, just as he was to Coach Kelsey,” Hargis said.
John Cody will be an excellent addition to the coaching staff and will bring a lot of new perspectives and ideas for the 2025 high school soccer season.
