Making local hoops history
Katy Mitton excited to be a female coaching boys at Bethlehem Catholic
Scott McClary said that when a male coaches a women’s team in sports “Nobody thinks twice. We don’t even blink.”
But the Bethlehem Catholic boys basketball coach said that when it’s the other way around, and a female coaches a boys team, it’s considered some sort of breakthrough.
In hiring Katy Mitton as an assistant coach on his Golden Hawks staff, McClary is proud to have what he thinks is the first female assistant coach on any Lehigh Valley boys basketball staff.
He is happy to make history.
But more than that, McClary wants to give a good basketball coach a unique opportunity and at the same time show his student-athletes that barriers can be broken in all kinds of ways.
Mitton, a former Parkland High and Muhlenberg College standout, has replaced Nigel Long on the Becahi staff. Long broke a barrier of his own in becoming the first Black head coach in 100 years of Liberty High boys basketball.
“I had an opening and I know Katy loves the game and I have a ton of respect for how much she knows,” said McClary, who is beginning his third
season at Becahi. “Basketball is basketball. If you can teach it, if you can communicate and build positive relationships, you can be a great coach and Katy can do all of those things.”
Mitton spent the 2019-20 season as an assistant on the women’s staff at Amherst College in Massachusetts.
But Amherst, like many Division II and III programs around the country, has been affected by the coronavirus pandemic. She was looking for an opportunity to stay involved with the game she has always loved and add to her coaching experience.
“Scott and I have known each other for a long time; he’s a family friend,” Mitton said. “My dad [Greg] was on the Muhlenberg basketball staff, mybrother [Alex] played for him at Muhlenberg and we talked a lot when he was with the men’s program when I was playing for the women’s team. He thought that if this was something I wanted to do, I should do it. He thought I would fit in from an internal standpoint and on the outside, it would be something that could make some noise.”
What makes it work is that the Becahi players accepted and respected Mitton instantly. She was their coach, not their female coach.
“In the very beginning this was a great momentfor our players and they wanted to be a part of it,” McClary said. “You know our country is struggling with how to respect one another in a lot of areas, so I thought it was great for our kids to have to live it and show respect and take upon themselves to not see gender in this case, but only see a basketball coach.”
Bethlehem Catholic has been one of the area’s top programs for several years, winning three District 11 4A titles from 2017-19 and back-to-back Eastern Pennsylvania Conference crowns in 2018-19. Last year’s team went 23-9 and reached the 4A district final and the state tournament.
This year’s squad was expected to be one of the teams to beat in the EPC, but suffered a blow when Isaiah Alexander, whoaveraged 13 points per game last year as a sophomore, left the program earlier in the fall for a bigger stage outside the area.
There is still plenty of talent in place and Mitton is looking to help the team reach its potential.
“I do love the fact that Scott breaks down and does scouting reports like we have done at the college level,” she said. “Those are things that I have done for years. It’s really going to benefit them. High school players learn in different ways. Having input and being able to help them see what we’re looking for in different situations is something I am looking forward to.”
Mitton, who began working with the team during open gyms in October, doesn’t necessarily see herself as a trailblazer, but others might.
“When I first started coming, some of the guys said ‘Hey Katy, you’re like the Becky Hammon of high school basketball’ and I said I will be happy to take Becky Hammon’s name any day,” Mitton said, referring to the first female full-time assistant in NBAhistory whenshe was hired by San Antonio in 2014.
“Becky Hammon is someone I’ve looked up to. Basketball is basketball, but to do something that hasn’t been done before is important. Let’s bring down all the barriers,” she added.
Mitton said she has received a lot of support and encouragement from her family, her former teammates, her friends at Muhlenberg and Amherst and everyone whoknows in the local basketball community.
“It has been a lot of fun,” she said. “It has been a cool experience so far.”
She introduced herself to fellow coaches around the EPC and the regular boys basketball officials during a fall league at East Side Youth Center.
“I’ve known a lot of them forever, people like Nigel and Darnell Braswell, and they weren’t surprised to see me,” she said. “But others were curious. They asked me whether I was going to be on the staff all season. Scott and I started to make a joke out of it and wewere going to tell different people different things and say that I was going to be the mascot or team mom. The reactions have been interesting.”
Mitton said it is “mind-blowing in a way” that she’s the first female to be asked to assist with a boys team considering all of the talented players the Lehigh Valley has produced in girls basketball over the years.
“It’s just the world we live in where females don’t get a lot of respect in certain areas,” she said. “I think that has to change. Why not now?”
She is hoping people notice her role at first and come to
respect her to the point where it opens up opportunities for other females to do things normally relegated to men.
“Is this a big deal? I don’t know,” she said. “I just know I amexcited to be in this position. Hopefully one day we’ll get to a point where you shouldn’t have to make a deal out of something to make a change and this will become the norm.”