Sallisaw coaching couple leaving posts for new ventures

Sallisaw’s coaching couple of Chadd, Sallisaw boys basketball coach, and Hillary Gehrke, girls softball coach, are stepping away from their current posts to take on new ventures.

Chadd was hired Tuesday night as the new girls basketball coach at Chouteau-Mazie High School. If you would have talked with the Sallisaw Black Diamonds basketball coach two or three weeks ago, he likely would have told you there was no such plans on the horizon.

“Actually, I wasn’t looking to go anywhere,” Chadd Gehrke said. “I was happy being here. I was contacted about the job, the Chouteau Mazie girls. I still wasn’t even thinking about it. Some things started happening. People started convincing me a little bit. Then another person contacted me about their boys job. Overall, I had three schools approach me about their job, so I went from not looking anywhere to three people wanting me. I kind of got intrigued. I did some digging and some praying. I locked myself up in my closet for 20 minutes. This (job) is what we came up with. You might not always know the exact reason why. You do enough praying about it, you have to go where you have to go.”

This new venture for him won’t be the first time Chadd will have gotten to coach girls.

“I was the assistant coach at Rejoice Christian way back when, and I helped both boys and girls that year,” he said. “I’ve helped Hillary do softball here at Sallisaw. That’s my experience with coaching girls.”

In fact, the more reality has set in that he’ll be coaching the Chouteau-Mazie Lady Wildcats, Gehrke is getting more and more pumped.

“I’m stoked actually,” Chadd Gehrke said. “The more I think about it, the more excited I get. I went and met the girls (Tuesday). I’m ready.”

Gehrke said there will be lots of fond memories after coaching the Black Diamonds for the past four seasons.

“There’s a lot of memories here — some were bad, but we can look back and laugh about them now,” he said. “We did a lot of good things here. The kids made it (a hard decision). It’s going to be hard to leave these kids.”

Chadd definitely believes the Black Diamonds basketball program is in a better shape than four years ago.

“I think when I applied for this job, there wasn’t much interest — thankfully, that’s how I got the job,” he said. “Now, that the job is open, I hear there’s some pretty good candidates. I think that alone speaks for itself. I think people who have seen us all four years can see the growth that has taken place, so I think we’ve come a long way.”

For Hillary, family is the big reason for her decision to step aside from coaching, at least for now.

“We’re expecting our third child in October,” Hillary Gehrke said. “Last year was hard because I had Grady (Graydon) when the (2023 fast-pitch) season started, so just trying to be both mom and coach as a head coach was hard. I was torn because I felt like I couldn’t give my team 100 percent and give my kids 100 percent. So, I was feeling like I was giving them half effort, and that’s not who I am. I had to pick one, so right now, of course, I’m going to pick my family. Now, that I’m pregnant again, It’s just time (to get out of coaching). I just want to be a mom right now. I can always come back to coaching, but I can’t come back to my kids when they’re little.”

Hillary Gehrke, who with husband Chadd have 3-year-son Gavin along with Grady, said that such a decision had nothing to do with Chadd taking the Chouteau-Mazie girls basketball coaching job.

“This is actually a decision I was making before he took that job,” she said. “We had talked about it. I got pregnant during basketball season. We put a lot of thought into it. I actually went to the administration and talked to them about it. They understood and had my back. I was going to just teach and not coach so I could be a mom 100 percent. That way, the softball team can have somebody else 100 percent.”

However, she does want to return to the coaching ranks some day.

“I’m taking a break to be a mom and have time with my babies while they’re little,” Hillary Gehrke said. “When they get older, I’ll obviously come back to coaching because I love it. Right now, I have to be the best mom I can be. I can’t coach right now because they need me all the time. Having my husband being a coach and me being a coach, we go year round. It’s hard anyway without having babies.”

No matter when she would have made the decision, to get out of coaching was going to be a hard one — and this decision indeed was hard for the Lady Diamonds softball coach.

“It’s hard because people don’t realize how much a coach spends with other people’s kids,” she said. “They’re almost like your own kids. Believe it or not, some people don’t realize it, but their kids I feel are my kids because we’re with them all the time. It’s sad for the seniors (led by Makenna Bormann and Madison Green). As a head coach, they were freshmen, so I really wanted to finish with them. After getting pregnant again, I felt like I wasn’t giving them my best. I want their best. That’s one reason I did it (decide to get out of coaching). It was hard when I talked to them. I told them I would always be there and support them. Even though we’re moving, I’ll still be back to watch them just because I feel like they’re my own kids.”

However, Hillary does plan on remaining a teacher in some capacity.

“I’m actually trying to teach online,” she said. “I go EPIC, so I can spend more time with the kids and have a flexible schedule. I still plan on teaching.”

Another hard aspect of the decision to move to the Chouteau area is leaving Sallisaw.

“It was actually a hard decision,” Hillary Gehrke said. “Chadd and I talked about it. It happened really fast. People don’t realize how fast it happened. They called him. He had a job interview on a Monday, they offered him the job on (that following) Wednesday and we had to tell them yes or no by (that following Friday). It all happened within a week, so we talked about it. We decided it (the Chouteau-Mazie girls basketball coaching job) was the right move.”

Seeing the Lady Diamonds softball program improve in all aspects is perhaps the most pleasing thing that Hillary Gehrke will remember most about her four years in the program.

“When I started, I felt like there was not a lot of accountability in the softball program,” she said. “My first year here as an assistant (coach), we won three games. The next year as a head coach, we won nine games, and my third year (in the program) we were two wins away from making the state tournament (fall 2022). So in three years, I feel we really made a big jump and change. This past (fall) year, it was a growing year as a young team. That’s what I tell everybody. Next year (fall 2024), it will probably be the best softball team talent wise, not athletes, that will be at Sallisaw since I’ve been here. That was one reason why it was tough to leave because they have a bright future — building a middle school/junior high program. They’re coming up, you’ll see the hard work I feel has paid off because they have set a high bar for our future.”

Like her husband and his thoughts about the Black Diamonds basketball program being in a better shape than it was when he started, Hillary believes the same way with the Lady Diamonds softball program.

“I feel the program is better now,” she said. “We’ve done a lot of changes, even with the softball facilities. We’ve got the (outfield) wall. We’ve done a lot of change to the locker room. We’ve made big jumps in the softball program.”