(SPRINGFIELD, Ky.) – Washington County High School is excited to announce the hiring of Michelle Fries as the new head coach of the Commanderette Basketball team.Fries brings decades of coaching experience to Washington County. She has served in a variety of roles across Jefferson County, including football academic coordinator at Valley High School, as well as multiple coaching positions at Pleasure Ridge Park High School, where she led programs in cross country, volleyball, and both boys and girls basketball.

Her experience also includes serving as a girls varsity assistant basketball coach at Holy Cross High School and as the women’s head basketball coach at Spalding University, where she was inducted into the Athletic Hall of Fame. Fries later served as girls varsity head coach at Fern Creek Traditional High School, earning numerous honors including 2006 East Junior All Star Coach, the 2008 7th Region Coach of the Year, the 2011 West State Tournament All Star Coach, and the 2011 Kentucky-Ohio All Star Coach.

Fries is a 1984 graduate of Male Traditional High School and earned a Bachelor of Arts in business administration from Bellarmine University in 1988. She said playing under her college basketball coach Charlie Just inspired her to pursue the coaching profession. “He was successful, knowledgeable, fair and fun,” said Fries. “I would like to think that he is a big influence on my coaching philosophy.”

Michelle Fries

Fries said she decided to apply for the coaching position at WCHS for a number of reasons. “I had been out of coaching for some time and missed the game, the kids and all of the good people associated with basketball programs. I moved to Washington County approximately two years ago and wanted to contribute to the high school and the community. I have always enjoyed teaching the game of basketball and mentoring young students. My vision for the team is to prioritize, in order, God, family, education and basketball. [My] goals for the program are to increase interest in the sport, become consistently competitive and have some fun along the way. As far as life skills for the players, I hope to instill work ethic, accountability and the understanding that life doesn’t always go your way, but you have to work at it every day no matter where it takes you.”

“I am very excited for our girls basketball program and Coach Fries leading it,” says Malissa Hutchins, interim principal at WCHS. “She has coached from the college level all the way down to middle school and has been successful at all of them. Her resume speaks for itself. We want our program to always compete for district and regional championships and I feel that Coach Fries is going to be able to get our program back to that level. I am excited for our girls and the direction that our team is heading with Coach Fries at the helm!”