Angie Kelly, the girls varsity assistant basketball coach at Washington-Lee last season, has officially been hired as the head coach, the school announced last week. The former Virginia Tech standout becomes the school’s sixth head coach in the past five seasons.
Michelle Miller, who had been commuting between job commitments in Denver and Arlington resigned following the season, and the job was posted in early April. Miller, according to Kelly, gave Washington-Lee director of activities Carol Calloway a solid recommendation and she was hired soon thereafter.
Kelly has been an assistant at Bradley University, as well as Heritage in Loudoun Valley, but has never been a head coach. She is a retired Arlington police officer.
Last season, she was on the bench when the Generals erased a winning drought that spanned two seasons.
“I was acting like the head coach more than what was initially expected so I just went with it,” Kelly said on Monday regarding filling in for Miller last season. “It was something that had to be done.”
With five sophomores on a six-win team that went to the regional tournament last season, Kelly is raring to get the new season underway.
“I’m looking forward to having that core come back and they know my expectations,” Kelly said. “We’re going to work hard this summer and I think we’re going to have some great success.”
Just being a familiar face is a huge deal for a program that’s been in complete flux. She said she’s going to maintain both the freshmen and junior varsity coaches.
“With that consistency, I think we’re going to be a pretty good program in the future…I think we have a good foundation in place,” she said.