There may have been some surprised high schools in the area who thought they missed the boat when it was announced that Dave Troxell was back to coach the Catasauqua girls basketball team.

But they can rest assured that they didn't really miss out at all...

"I really only ever thought about coaching at Catty," said Troxell. "I am a die-hard Catasauqua Rough Rider, brown and white are my favorite colors. I have grown up, went to school, work, and live in Catasauqua all in the past 42 years, so it never crossed my mind to coach anywhere else."

Troxell said he had not been thinking all that long about a return, but when it was brought to his attention recently, he and his family thought the time was right.

"I talked to my wife Gretchen and my kids and they were all supportive of me doing this," Troxell said. "I have a very supportive family in Gretchen, Devon, Derek, and Delaney, as well as my parents Frank and Pat and my in-laws, Larry and Helen. I could not coach if I did not have their support and backing to do this job.

"I came back to coach the girls at Catty because of the proud tradition of the girls basketball program."

Troxell has been out of high school coaching four years already, but has kept busy helping to coach his sons' teams in the youth program. He now feels he can coach at the high school level, and still get to spend quality family time watching Devon, Derek and Delaney's games.

While Troxell's track record for success speaks for itself, he knows coming back this winter to a team that's won only a handful of games in his absence won't be an easy thing.

"It is going to lots of hard work to get the program competitive," he said. "The coaches in the past four years did their best for the program to be competitive and win games. They did the best they could. I am just going to try and follow their footsteps and lead this team to the best of my ability."

Troxell says he sees some athletic names on the roster he'll inherit later this year. But, what he also saw were some athletic names missing.

"I hope to change that," he said. "All Catasauqua athletic teams need kids to play. We are such a small school, we need the athletes to play all sports. It has always been that way at our school and in my opinion it always will be that way. We have had superior athletes at Catty go on and play at the collegiate level and the professional level, and those athletes, male and female, played all the sports they possibly could."

Troxell isn't going to enter his second stint with a change in philosophy. He's going to coach the same way he did before - win each quarter and have a chance to win at the end of the game. He'll preach practicing hard and listening to what is being taught, then hope the girls carry it over into the games.

"I am going to start very basic with the players, work on fundamentals and individual skill work before any team concepts are taught," Troxell said. "I feel this is necessary to do this summer and fall before we start practice."

This time around Troxell is bringing along some familiar faces to assist him, as Brittany Lacey and Steph Remington, who both scored 1,000 points under Troxell, will return to the Catty floor.

"I am looking forward to that," Troxell said. "They were excellent players for me, great team players, loved to compete and win, and they played on some pretty good teams. They were leaders and hated to lose, which is the mentality athletes need to have. I am sure they will have a lot of insights to give to the players to help them succeed."

Troxell added that he wanted to thank Director of Student Activities Tom Moll for recommending him and CHS administrators Dave Ascani and Dave Domchek for having him back to coach, and the school board for approving him. He's also looking forward to meeting the girls and putting together a summer schedule. In the meantime, he'll also be cheering on the girls softball team to a Colonial League title Thursday.

"Go Rough Riders, I will be rooting you on for a victory."

Bleeding Brown and White, indeed...