Photo: Kyle Mayo (pictured at far left) observes the action during a West End girls basketball game last season. (Submitted photo)
By Chris McCarthy/Publisher
With his youngest daughter a freshman at West End High, Kyle Mayo decided that the time was right to take the leading role of the school’s varsity girls basketball program.
Over the past four years, Mayo served as head coach of the girls junior high team and assistant coach for the varsity girls basketball and volleyball teams.
“I’ve coached these girls for a while, so I’m familiar with them,” he said. “When Coach [Bryan] Phillips left after last season, he put in a good word and recommended me, and we went from there.”
Mayo sees the 2024-25 Lady Patriots as a work in progress considering the team has no seniors, one junior and three sophomores. However, he views his eighth and ninth grade classes as a group that only lacks some seasoning. Counting the end of the regular season and the area tournament, Mayo has four returning starters.
“We started a seventh grader and an eighth grader at the area tournament last year, so obviously we were young,” he said. “But all those girls now have varsity experience, and our younger group won county, so they have the mentality of what it takes to win. If we can keep developing that mindset and have the older girls buy in, I think we’ll see improvement. I’m hoping that the win total goes up, but the main thing is to be competitive against whichever team we take the floor against.”
A 2003 West End graduate, Mayo was an All-State player for the Patriots’ football and basketball teams. Under head coach Butch Dixon, West End football went 28-16 with Mayo on the roster from 1999-2002. The Patriots went 10-2, won the region championship and made it to the second round of the state playoffs in Mayo’s junior year of 2001. Mayo and current Hokes Bluff head baseball coach and assistant football coach Jake Ball were named All-Etowah County Schools co-MVPs following the 2002-03 basketball season.
Mayo hopes his youngsters are fast learners, as he views Class 2A Area 12 as ultra-competitive with Cleveland, Southeastern and Susan Moore.
“Susan Moore has a new coach, but they’ve still got kids there who know how to win, so they’ll still be tough. Southeastern is an older group that is returning almost everyone. Cleveland [graduated] a player that’s now at Wallace-Hanceville, but they’ll still be pretty good. We’ve got our work cut out for us, but we’re looking forward to the challenge.”
Mayo points to the school’s 2024 softball and volleyball teams as inspiration to his program. Both teams were ranked in the top five of the Class 2A state polls all season, won their area tournaments and qualified for the regional tournaments.
“As I see it, as far as girls’ sports, [West End] is a volleyball and softball school,” he said. “That’s not to say that West End hasn’t had good girls basketball teams, but we’re not to that level just yet, but I’m pretty sure that we’ve got the girls who can bring us to that level. I’m not sure how long it will take, but I’m hoping that it won’t be long.”
Mayo hopes that the school’s newly renovated gym will give the program an additional boost.
The project included a refurbished court, new locker rooms, new bleachers, new sound system. new basketball shooting machine and fresh lettering above the facility’s entrance.
“With the locker room, I wanted to start fresh and show our girls that it’s a new era for West End basketball; getting all the old stuff out and doing a complete makeover,” he said. “With the help of some parents, we made it happen. The booster club helped get shooting machine, the cities of Altoona and Walnut Grove made big donations to get the floor redone and the board (of education) helped with the bleachers and sound system. So, if you haven’t been in [the gym] in a while, it’s nothing like you’d remember.”
West End opens the season on Tuesday, Nov. 12 at home against Crossville.
