ALTAMONT — Change is coming to the Altamont girls basketball program.
For the first time in over one decade, Katie Lurkins will not be pacing the sidelines as Lady Indians’ head coach, announcing her resignation last week while remaining as the school’s athletic director.
Lurkins said that resigning was “100 percent my choice.”
“Not coaching was 100 percent my choice. With taking on the athletic director position, I knew I would be busy and until I was in the thick of it, I didn’t realize how busy I would be,” Lurkins said. “I found myself getting stretched thin. One of the things about being a good coach is understanding that you want the best for everyone.”
Lurkins finishes her coaching career at Altamont with a 177-120 career record and four regional championships.
To Lurkins, though, she doesn’t want her career to be judged by wins and losses.
Instead, she wants her tenure to be about the culture she set for years to come.
“I had some successful teams that we coached and I had some successful teams, not just necessarily in the win category. It’s been about watching young ladies grow into responsible, productive women,” Lurkins said. “As much as I love holding the National Trail Conference or the regional championship plaque, the most rewarding thing as a coach is when you attend that player’s college graduation or wedding.
“That’s why I coach; that’s what success is for me.”
Though wins aren’t that important to Lurkins, they did come — and rather quickly.
Lurkins began coaching at Altamont in the 2012-2013 season, helping the program reach a regional championship game in her first year.
The following year was much of the same, as Altamont made it to a regional final again, only to see their season end in the same contest.
However, the tides quickly turned in Lurkins’ favor, as she won a regional championship in her fourth year and the first for the girls basketball program since 2008 after beating Brownstown-St. Elmo, 59-30, before three-consecutive regional crowns came, starting two years after her first. Altamont defeated North Clay in 2018 (56-51), Brownstown-St. Elmo in 2019 (65-52) and St. Anthony in 2020 (64-30).
Along for the ride during that stretch was assistant coach Chris Guse.
Lurkins spoke highly of her long-time sidekick, saying he is “amazing.”
“Coach Guse is amazing. We’ve coached together for eight-and-a-half years and he and I work well together because we have the same goal,” Lurkins said. “The best thing about Coach Guse is that we never have to match, and it’s fantastic.”
Known for her attire, Lurkins didn’t come up with her fashion sense overnight.
She got the idea from former head coach and now principal at Altamont, Peggy Bueker, who coached when Lurkins was playing.
“Whenever I started coaching over 20 years ago, I wore heels because I remember when I was in high school playing against Altamont, they were a fantastic team and had this very classy coach that wore heels,” Lurkins said.
Altogether, what all that means is what being an Altamont Lady Indian is — someone who truly makes a statement, which is something that Lurkins accomplished.