In the last few years, amidst its many other tumults, Seattle Pacific University athletics underwent a period of coach turnover. Some coaches left, while others joined.
One of these new faces is Karen Byers, the women’s basketball assistant coach at SPU. She joined the team at the beginning of the 2022-2023 season after spending some time as the head coach of Bainbridge High School’s girls’ basketball team.
Byers’ first game as a college coach was an exhibition game on Oct. 30, 2022, on the road against the University of Idaho Vandals. Despite the team’s 87-51 loss, it was a milestone Byers remembers well.
“The first game as a college coach, when we went to Idaho, was pretty special,” Byers said. “I just was so grateful that I’m at this level, that I’m able to coach at this level.”
Byers notes that college basketball takes up a lot more of her time than working as a high school head coach ever did, but she adores her new job working alongside head coach Mike Simonson.
“During the season, my entire life is basketball. I only am home maybe one day a week,” Byers said. “But it’s something that I’m so grateful for and happily do because this team, our athletes and Coach Simonson are such a huge part of my life.”
One of the main reasons for the extra time commitment is that Byers now spends time on scouting and recruiting. She observes players of interest on opposing teams to create strategies against them and athletes on high school and college teams that might have players that SPU would like to pick up.
The recent expansions of the transfer portal have made it a thoroughfare for obtaining players with college experience.
“It really does kind of feel like you’re shopping for humans,” Byers said. “You can just look at the portal and see how tall they are, who they played for, and then I can go and watch film of them and then decide if we want to reach out or not.”
As coaches, Byers and Simonson divide the responsibilities on the team. Byers focuses more on offense and on the wings and guards. She says the team has improved in those areas since she joined the staff.
Three players in her purview who are significant parts of the team’s game plan are junior wing Lolo Weatherspoon, junior guard Hunter Beirne and freshman guard Layne Kearns. In 2023, Weatherspoon, Beirne and Kearns combined scored a third of the team’s total points that year, in addition to getting 41% of the team’s assists.
Byers specifically mentioned Weatherspoon’s 26-point performance (including going 5-for-5 from three) during SPU’s Pink Game on Feb. 1, 2024, as a moment she adored as a coach.
“As a coach, that’s one of those times when you see athletes when all their training has come together, and it just looks effortless,” Byers said. “I just take great pride in what they’ve accomplished.”
Byers, who came into the job with a USA Weightlifting certification, has also revamped team workouts. She introduced more Olympic-style lifting into the players’ routines. However, she still maintains a casual vibe during those gym workouts as opposed to on-court training.
“The weight room for us, we work hard, but it’s just a fun atmosphere,” Byers said. “It’s structured, but it’s less intense than our practices.”
In her two years as coach, Byers has learned alongside the players. She says that her biggest lesson has been acting with the knowledge that the players are not just here for hoops.
“I do think it is equally important to support our athletes off the court as on the court, and hear how their school is going,” Byers said. “I think learning to view coaching as a whole, what’s going on in their lives, how their bodies are feeling, what school is like, just to be able to take that into account of what we’re doing.”
Eventually, however, all of these players will move on. Every spring, seniors graduate, while others enter the transfer portal, never to don the maroon and white again. According to Byers, this is always the most bittersweet time of the year.
“The hardest time in basketball is knowing that an athlete has played their last game for you. It’s kind of always the end of an era. It feels like a family member that’s going to leave,” Byers said. “I’m proud of them, but it’s hard to see them go.”
Ultimately, Byers has an immense feeling of gratitude for her job.
“I love to develop athletes, so I really enjoy working with our athletes on the team and seeing how they just change on the court and their skills get better and seeing what we work on in practice come out in a game,” Byers said. “I’m just so grateful to have been given this opportunity to jump up so quickly into the college role.”
