Philomath High School tennis appears to be headed in a new direction with the possibility that both the boys and girls programs will have new head coaches next spring. Gary Quandt just completed his 12th season with Warriors tennis and Greg Thorson has been with the girls program since 2022.
Quandt and Thorson are considered to be officially resigned from those posts but both could still be back next season depending on the situation. Athletic Director Mike Hood said the two vacancies will be advertised.
EDITOR’S NOTE Philomath High School also made coaching moves with the softball program with Travis King out as head coach. Look for a full story to be posted Thursday at PhilomathNews.com.
“Both are in consideration for coaching next year,” Hood said about Quandt and Thorson. “We are currently exploring options with them.”
After last season, Thorson indicated that he no longer wanted to coach alone, Quandt said, and so a meeting with Hood was set up. One option on the table would be for Quandt and Thorson to coach the girls together while a new coach was hired for the boys.
However, Quandt also told Hood that he would step down as the boys coach if two qualified coaches were found for next season.
“I’d be willing to do one more year whether it’s with Greg or not with Greg — either the girls or the boys,” Quandt said he told the AD. “I kind of left it pretty wide open on that.”
Quandt said he doubts that PHS will be able to find two quality tennis coaches and said it may be difficult to find even one qualified coach.
In order for Hood to advertise the vacancies, Quandt said he was told that he would need to submit a letter of resignation, which is something that Thorson also did.
“That’s kind of where we left it,” Quandt said. “I also told him I’d be happy to be on the hiring committee whenever he gets any applications and does interviews.”
Hood said the school district has operated in the past with not advertising coaching positions unless there was an opening. Thus, the letters of resignation come into play. Quandt said he was also asked to submit one three years ago prior to Thorson’s hiring. At the time, Quandt had been the head coach of both programs.
Quandt is well-known in the tennis community not only locally but in the region and state. He served in management with the Timberhill Racquet Club for 28 years.
Philomath High tennis dates back to 2005 when volunteers established a pilot program. Enough interest was seen among students that it became a permanent sport by the following year. Beth Edgemon, who is still with the school district, was the first head coach.
The PHS tennis program has reached new heights under Quandt with district titles and state qualifiers becoming the norm in recent years. He was involved with the group that pushed for the construction of tennis courts at Philomath High, an effort that took about a dozen years. Quandt together with Lori Haslam, Matt Williams and Kirsten Beckstead manned giant scissors during a ribbon-cutting ceremony in 2020 to officially open the new courts.
Philomath connection at Olympics
Jade Carey, an Oregon State University gymnast who lives in Philomath, was named to the U.S. Women’s Olympic Team following the gymnastics team trials late last month in Minneapolis.
Carey, whose hometown is Phoenix, Arizona, won the gold medal in the floor exercise at the Tokyo Olympics. The vault and floor exercise are known as her best events.
Joining her on the team are Simone Biles, Jordan Chiles, Suni Lee, Hezly Rivera, Joscelyn Roberson and Leanne Wong.
The athletes will compete July 26-Aug. 11 at the Olympic Games in Paris.
Philomath has another connection to the Olympics with collegiate multimedia sports journalist Blake Niemann headed to Paris to provide coverage for Cronkite News/Arizona PBS. Niemann, who graduated with Philomath High’s Class of 2022, will be a senior this coming term at Arizona State University. He plans to graduate as a Sun Devil next May.
New admin assistant at PHS
For those who interact with Philomath High School’s athletics department, Amanda Bauer has moved on from the administrative assistant position. She is now working as an administrative assistant at Oregon State University.
Ashley Toombs, who has been a substitute for the school district on and off since 2019, now moves into the job.
“She is a great fit with our office staff, has experience with school and athletic-based systems and has positive rapport with many of the students here at PHS,” Athletic Director Mike Hood said. “She is also heavily involved with the booster club. We are excited to have her join our team and help move PHS athletics forward.”
Hood said the position was opened to both internal and external candidates with nine applicants vying for the job.
(Brad Fuqua is publisher/editor of the Philomath News. He can be reached at News@PhilomathNews.com).
