Decatur Basketball Head Coach Drew Coffman secured his 400th career win at home with an 87-22 win over Springtown January 26.

Coffman took over the Decatur Eagles 10 years ago, in the 2013-2014 season, as the boys head coach.

This run was highlighted by a state semifinals appearance in 2018-2019 after a dominant 37-4 season.

He continued to coach Decatur to successful seasons until the 2021-2022 season, where he instead took over the head coaching job at Eaton.

There he would have another winning season, but would only coach one year before moving back to Decatur.

This time Coffman would be in a different role, however, as the girls basketball head coach.

“I’m really partial to these girls,” Coffman said. “Obviously I have a daughter on the team. And then obviously, my daughter grew up with these girls on this team. So I probably wouldn’t have done it if it wasn’t for the relationships I had with the group of girls that are on this team.”

Coffman’s daughter, Laken is a starting guard for the team and is one of five sophomores that have played starting minutes this season.

“It’s been a really great experience getting to coach them and be with them every day and kind of go through the highs and lows of the season with one another,”  Coffman said. “It’s been a blessing for sure.”

Since Coffman took over the girl’s team in 2022-2023, the girls have earned a 56-18 combined record and are looking to keep improving.

“Last year we had a good year, but definitely not what we’re having this year,” Coffman said. “It’s been fun watching them grow up and kind of go through things and lose to some teams last year and then beat the same team this year. So that’s been the fun part of it.” 

Last season the Eagles finished with a 25-12 record placing third in the district, losing both matchups to Bridgeport and Krum, however this year they have completely flipped the script.

With two nail-biting victories vs Krum and some comfortable wins against Bridgeport, the Lady Eagles were able to knock off both of their old foes towards an undefeated district championship, which was their first in nearly a decade.

“The ultimate goal, obviously, is to win state,” said Coffman. “I mean, it’s what everybody’s chasing after,” Coffman said.

Coffman’s favorite part of reaching the 400 win mark was getting the chance to reflect with some former coaches and players who reached out to congratulate him on the milestone.

“The best part about it was all the former players and kind of all the old assistant coaches and all my buddies and stuff that I don’t hear from all the time,” Coffman said. “That was probably the coolest thing about it. Outside of that, it was just another game for me.” 

Following the district championship, the Lady Eagles would go on to the first round of the playoffs where they faced the Wichita Falls Coyotes, who just snuck into the playoffs with a 5-17 record.

This matchup wouldn’t faze the Eagles too much as they would dominate the Coyotes by a score of 88-4 to move onto round 2.

Despite an easy victory in the first round, the road would get a lot tougher very quickly as they would have to take the long trip to Abilene, to take on Lubbock Estacado in a round 2 matchup.

Estacado was having a good season with a 21-12 record, good enough for second in the district and they proved to be a very tough foe for the Lady Eagles.

In a hard fought physical battle that came down to the very end, the Lady Eagles held off Estacado in a low scoring battle to advance with a final score of 25-20.

Five days later, the Eagles would travel to take on the Stephenville Honeybees, in a round three matchup, where the winner would head to Lubbock for the regional tournament.

The matchup was another tight back and forth battle but it wouldn’t be enough as Decatur would move on by a 10-point margin to advance to Regionals. 

Advancing to the Regional tournament is a rare feat, as not many Decatur teams ever have made it to that stage.

“It was very exciting,” said starting center Bralyn Peck. “We all knew we had worked very hard for that moment and deserved to play in a big game like that.”

The regional semifinal matchup was against the Canyon Eagles, who Decatur faced earlier in the year walking away with a 41-40 win.

This one however wouldn’t go the same as the Lady Eagles historic season would come to an end with a final score of 48-26.

“The opportunity to play in the regional tournament was a big accomplishment,” Laken said. “Not a lot of teams get the chance to touch the court in Lubbock and the fact we made it that far is pretty big.”

“Watching my dad coach growing up, and getting to watch him win his 300th win was a big deal, but getting the opportunity to play for him and help win his 400th win was an exciting moment for any coach’s kid,” Laken said.

Decatur finished the year with an impressive 31-6 record and, with every starter coming back, the Lady Eagles are primed for even more success in the future.