Here are some of the new coaches who will roam the sidelines this spring.
The only constant in life is change, and that’s true on the sidelines for many of your favorite high school spring sports teams.
Here are a few of the new varsity head coaches who will grace the sidelines, fields, courts, courses and tracks in the spring of 2023.
*This story has been corrected.
John Parks
Head Track Coach, Lake Oswego High School
Experience: Parks has coached with Ultimate Speed Athletics Track Club, working with Ryan Bailey (a 2012 Olympic medalist in the 4 x 100-meter relay who was also fourth in the 100 meters) and World Championship relay member Joe Morris.
At the college level, he coached at Oregon State, working with Brandin Cooks, Markus Wheaten, the Rodgers brothers and Stevie Coury. At Willamette University, Parks coached two-time Olympian Nick Symmonds and two NCAA champions including Jimmy Watts. He also worked at Portland State University, Auburn University (where he coached a 400-meter hurdle World Champion and Olympic medalist, and more than two dozen Olympic Trials qualifiers) and the University of Alabama at Birmingham (where he launched the school’s track program, and three years later, defeated defending national champion Alabama.
At the high school level, Parks served as head coach at McKay High School in Salem, head coach at Pelham High School in Alabama (where he had more than 80 college scholarship signees, six all-time state records and five team state championships), and assistant coach in Alabama at Mountain Brook, Hewitt-Trussville and Vestavia Hills high schools. He also previously assisted at Stayton High School.
Parks has also served as Meet Director for the SEC and Big Sky Cross Country Championships, the World Cross Country Trials and the USATF Youth Nationals.
John Bass
Head Girls Tennis Coach, Lakeridge High School
Experience: Bass has served as JV2, JV and varsity assistant girls soccer coach at Lakeridge. He has coached JV2, JV and varsity girls tennis at Lakeridge.
Sherri Saccconaghi
Head Girls Tennis Coach, Lake Oswego High School
Experience: Saccconaghi has been playing tennis since her high school days at Lakeridge. During her college years at Oregon, she began teaching tennis to youth and adults for the city of Lake Oswego at the Lake Oswego Tennis Center, ran its competitive youth program and gave private lessons. For the past eight years, she has been a tennis coach for Special Olympics Oregon.
Quote: “Tennis has been a positive aspect of my life since I was a teenager. Over the years, it has given me confidence on and off the court, the ability to work as a team, and has taught me how to set and achieve goals in all aspects of my life and career. I am happy for the opportunity to pay it forward by coaching the girls tennis team at LOHS.”
Howard Hoyle
Head Softball Coach, Lakeridge High School
Experience: Hoyle has coached softball for almost 20 years, in Little League, All Stars (including the Little League Softball World Series), local tournament teams, club tournament teams (Bat Company 5-6 years, and Soar in fall of 2022). Hoyle has also served on his local softball board for 19 years, servingas president, vice president, umpire in charge, player agent and more.
Quote: “At one time or another, I did every job, including field maintenance, while usually coaching multiple teams.”
Lisa Johnson
Head Boys and Girls Golf Coach, Lakeridge High School
Experience: Johnson has served as head women’s coach at the University of Nebraska, head women’s coach at the University of Idaho, head men’s coach at the University of Idaho, head women’s coach at Boise State University, men’s and women’s graduate assistant coach at the University of Idaho. Johnson played collegiate golf at Gonzaga University from 1996-2000, and is also a PGA professional.
Danielle Kirby
Head Girls Lacrosse Coach, Lakeridge High School
Experience: Kirby (now in her second season at Lakeridge) played lacrosse at Oregon City High School, and later, D1 lacrosse at the University of Detroit. She served as head coach of a JV team for two years at the University of Detroit, was head coach at Oregon City High School for three years (winning the Silver Cup once) and has coached club for Lacrosse Northwest since 2013.
*The section on Lake Oswego track coach John Parks has been corrected; previously, it incorrectly listed an additional high school coaching job.
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