Most coaches follow a rather predictable path to their profession. Brittany Ferguson Bell, Lowndes High head women’s basketball coach, kept to the script, for the most part. She was an excellent high school player who played as long as she could. When her playing career ended, she went into coaching. At this point, however, Bell deviates from the script. She didn’t start out as a high school assistant, spending several years learning her craft under different head coaches before finally landing a job at a smaller school. And she didn’t work in the lower classifications before moving up to the 6A level. Instead, she went from college student to head coach of one of the top women’s programs in the state.
Bell attended high school at Westside of Macon. She played basketball and ran track and cross country. Her freshman year, Westside finished second in the state in basketball. The next year, Bell and her teammates went to the Elite Eight. They followed up with a Final Four appearance her junior year. After graduation, Bell went to Western Carolina University on a basketball scholarship. She played two years there before transferring to Valdosta State University, where she finished her playing career. “Coaching wasn’t something I wanted to do. I wanted to teach but all the coaches I had seemed so stressed out. I didn’t want that kind of stress,” she says.
After her playing career ended, the opportunity to work as a graduate assistant with VSU opened up in 2012. She realized just how much she missed being around the game so she took the job. Two years later, Bell was head coach of the Lowndes High Vikettes. Bell inherited a team from former head coach Shan Garner that routinely won over 20 games and made deep playoff runs. She didn’t have to rebuild or even reload. She just had to keep winning – which is a lot more difficult than it sounds. “I came into a perfect situation. Coach Garner did a great job. His teams were well coached and those girls know how to play the game. He set me up to be successful. But the pressure was on,” she says.
Lowndes started out with 11 straight wins. They the girls started losing. It was frustrating for Bell and her team. Later in the season, things finally started clicking and the Vikettes began winning again. “Early on, we weren’t winning the right way. We were just better than our opponents. But when we started playing better teams and we had to execute our game plan better, we didn’t do well. We finally started playing the right way later in the season,” says Bell.
Lowndes ended up putting together another season of over 20 wins. The girls also made it to the Final Four, no small achievement for a South Georgia team. “I know it sounds cliché, but I wanted to win state. Realistically, that’s what I wanted. We pushed hard. It wasn’t easy and it was very stressful. But I wanted our girls to say, ‘We’re the best in the state,’” says Bell.
So what will it take to get over the hump and win a state title? “Well, Coach [Eric] Holland at Tift showed that South Georgia teams can beat Atlanta teams and win championships. So we know we can do it. But the girls in Atlanta play all the time. There is a gym on every corner and all kinds of opportunities to play year ‘round. Our kids play mainly in basketball season and that’s it. This summer, we’ve got to get them playing more. We have to play, play, play. That’s the only thing that separates them from us,” says Bell.
The 2013-2014 school year has been a tremendous learning experience for Bell. One of the biggest lessons she learned is that her girls needed something from her other than basketball. “As a Christian, it dawned on me that they needed something more. What were we fighting for? I realized this was way bigger than just basketball. Our sport can be a ministry. When we introduced that to our girls, they started playing to show what God has done for them, to show that there is something greater. They got on fire for the Lord and it was awesome to see that,” she says.
So what happens next year? Lowndes was a young team in 2013-2014. Of the seven girls who played most of the minutes, four were sophomores. The future of Lowndes women’s basketball looks bright indeed. “Next year, we have to win a state title. The pressure is on us. High school sports comes and goes in cycles, depending on the athletes you have at the time. But the standard for our program will always be a state title,” says Bell.
Wherever Brittany Ferguson Bell has been, she has won. In addition to the deep playoff runs in high school, she won a conference championship at Western Carolina and advanced to the Sweet Sixteen her senior year at Valdosta State. She has won plenty of games as a high school player, a college player, and now a high school coach. The pressure may indeed be on but Ferguson is well positioned to handle whatever comes her whatever comes her way.
Coach’s Corner/South Georgia/May 2014
Brittany Ferguson-Bell
Lowndes High School
Valdosta, Georgia
Robert Preston Jr.
Bell rockets to the top of the South Georgia coaching heap
