Girls basketball: Saige Barnett returns to BV as opposing coach for E-P

For Bureau Valley standout and coach Saige Barnett sits on the bench for Erie-Prophetstown Thursday night at Storm Gym. She is coaching the E-P freshmen this year.

MANLIUS - Saige Barnett stood in the doorway of Storm Gym at Bureau Valley High School last week and was greeted by several people walking in for the summer girls basketball game.

One familiar face cast her a little smirk, before bursting in a smile.

After all, Barnett, the former Bureau Valley standout and coach, would now be sitting on the opposing bench as the new freshmen coach for Three Rivers Conference rival Erie-Prophetstown.

“There’s a lot of familiar faces here, which I like, but it’s also a little intimidating,” she said. “I’m just embracing it. I’m loving the girls, the coaching staff. The E-P program has welcomed me with open arms and have made me feel comfortable. Even though this is where I grew up. I’m also starting to understand, they’re also my family.”

Barnett said any difficulty she may have in observing the familiar Bureau Valley Columbia blue and Navy as the opponents now would subside once the ball was tossed for center jump.

“I think when the game starts, my competitive nature is going to take over. Because there’s a lot of feelings, lot of emotions,” she said. “I had a chance to talk to Tiffany Gonigam (former BV player/coach who went to Princeton to coach) this week, because she was in the same boat. She gave me a lot advice. Just to make the most of it, embrace it. It is a big game, whether it’s the summer or not. There’s a lot of memories made here.”

Storm head coach Mat Wasilewski knew that Barnett was a little uneasy coming home to coach from the other side.

“I texted with Saige earlier in the week, and she mentioned how nervous she was about Thursday night. I assured her that as a coach the competitiveness would kick in and the nerves would fade,” he said. “Prior to the game, it was exciting to see the excitement and anticipation in her eyes.”

Barnett said it might be weird for the Bureau Valley girls to see her on the other side, “because they know I know a lot about them, and they don’t know anything about us.”

She joked that the E-P girls were already asking her for some insights on the Storm.

Even though some of the E-P girls knew about Barnett’s ties to Bureau Valley, she said, “As soon as I introduced myself at the beginning of the summer, they didn’t bat an eye, and just got to work.”

When he first heard Barnett was going to coach at E-P, Wasilewski was disappointed for BV, but he said that disappointment “was trumped by my excitement for the opportunity Saige earned.”

“Saige has a very bright future as a coach and teacher. She is the type of person that will be successful at whatever path she chooses,” Wasilewski said. “The thing that strikes me about Coach Barnett is her willingness to learn as well as teach. Saige is a natural leader and has struck that delicate balance where athletes know she cares as well as respect her authority as the coach.”

Third-year E-P head coach Chris Brown said Barnett has been a real nice addition to the Panthers staff.

“I’d seen her at a track meet last spring and we just started talking,” Brown said. “Of course I watched her play and I knew her and her brother, were pretty good basketball players. We had a good competitive group of freshmen coming in, we had an opening and it all worked out.

“We’re super, super excited to have her on board with us. She makes us a 1,000 percent better. We’re very blessed to have her. I’m hoping we can keep her and I’m hoping she can move up the ranks and coach her own program. And I think she really wants to do that.”

Wasilewski said Barnett picked a good place to develop as a young coach.

“Coach Barnett has tremendous people to learn from in Coach Brown and Coach Abbot and the other EP staff,” he said. “Coach Brown runs an amazing program and I know many of the people he himself learned the game from. I am sure and hopeful that Coach Barnett will be taking the reigns of a program in short order, and wherever that might be, the program will be in great hands.”

Barnett wasn’t the only coach switching sides Thursday night. Wasilewski, who Barnett served under as a volunteer coach over Christmas break last year, is a 1991 Erie graduate.

“Was is from Erie, so we just kind of switched places,” Barnett said.

Barnett will be a senior at ISU this fall, majoring in health and PE. She will embark on a student teaching assignment in January and is hoping to land in the E-P school district.

Barnett coached track in spring of 2021 at BV, and has coached club volleyball in addition to basketball at BV.

While E-P moved to the TRAC West last year to replace Fulton with the addition of Mendota in the East, Brown said the Panthers will have the opportunities to play BV and Princeton in Princeton’s Holiday Tournament to tip off next season.

“We were up at Oregon and just decided this would be a little bit better fit for us. Little bit closer for everybody,” he said.