Coaches

Kelly Cooksley is in his 11th year (7 Head) coaching high school basketball is the Head Girls Basketball Coach at Broken Bow High School (1st Season) and founder of the Nebraska Pride Basketball Program. In his first year at Broken Bow the team won the Southwest Conference Championship, the first in 13 years. The team also won 12 games more than doubling the previous season win total. Coach Cooksley has also had stints at Axtell (Girls) Wilcox-Hildreth (Girls), Kearney High (Boys) and worked with the University of Nebraska-Kearney women for a year during his undergrad. In the last 4 seasons his Axtell teams have won almost 72% of their games. His teams have played in the conference championship 4 consecutive seasons and have district runners up 3 times. Coach Cooksley is also a member of the Nebraska Coaches Association. Since starting Nebraska Pride Coach Cooksley has coached players that have went on to play in Division I, Division II and NAIA college basketball. Coach Cooksley teaches Physical Education and is a certified teacher/coach by the State of Nebraska and is also a NCAA Approved Coach.

Rick Bauer is the Technology Director for Elm Creek Schools for the past 22 years and has coached Nebraska Pride Teams for 3 years. From 1996-2008 he coached the Elm Creek Girls Basketball Team with a career record of 178-61 including a state runner-up and four state semifinal appearances. His teams won nine Fort Kearny Conference tourney/regular season championships with eleven players going on to play in Division II and NAIA college basketball. He also returned to coaching at Elm Creek in 2017 coaching the junior high girls basketball team. Coach Bauer graduated from the University of Nebraska at Kearney with a bachelors degree in education and a master's degree in instructional technology. Rick's wife Renee' also teaches at Elm Creek School and they have four daughters, Justine, Allison, Whitney and Ashley. Allison and Whitney are currently playing on Nebraska Pride teams. Coach Bauer is a certified teacher by the State of Nebraska along with being a Certified Athletic Administrator by the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrator Association and is a member of the Nebraska Coaches Association. Email Facebook Instagram Linked In Twitter Website

Alyssa Willicott is the head girl’s basketball coach at Axtell High School (first year) and the 7-12 science teacher. She was the head coach at Silver Lake before taking the head position at Axtell. In her first season at Axtell she guided her team to a conference semi finals berth and a spot in the District Championship game. Coach Willicott graduated from Doane College with a bachelor’s degree in Natural Science and an education endorsement. She will be graduating from Doane University in May with her masters in education. While at Doane, Coach Willicott played varsity women’s basketball for four years. She was a forward and known for her physical play. She worked hard in the off-season, gaining the title: the strongest player on the Tiger basketball team. After her last competitive game in February 2014, she knew she couldn’t quite give up her love of the game and decided to share her passion. Coach Willicott is a certified teacher by the State of Nebraska and is also a member of the Nebraska Coaches Association.