Crookston High School Activities Director Evan Pederson has announced hiring Jadin Hams as the next Crookston Pirate Girls Basketball coach, pending school board approval.
Hams is a 2020 graduate of Grand Forks Central and a current Mayville State University student. Hams was a multi-sport athlete in high school, playing basketball, football, wrestling, and baseball. He has also been coaching basketball, football, and other sports since graduating high school. Hams has been coaching AAU basketball and actually coached several of the Pirate Girls players, and that is one of the reasons why he applied for the job in Crookston. “I would say that kind of helped the decision a little bit, kind of knowing the playing style and knowing the way that the girls work and the work ethic that the girls have and the amount I know that I can get from them that they gave me from playing AAU that I know that they’ll give me more than what they probably gave me for AAU,” said Hams. “Coaching them in high school will make it better, and having that connection already will make it easier for me to kind of adapt the team, hopefully.”
Hams knows of Pirate Girls Basketball’s successful and storied tradition and wants to get the program back at the top. “I’ve kind of been keeping an eye on the Crookston girls basketball for the past couple years and it’s kind of something that’s really been intriguing me to kind of try to come and help out the best I can because I know that in the past the program used to be a really solid powerhouse program and then it kind of went downhill from there,” said Hmas. “I’ve played basketball for a while and I’ve been a really big fan of Minnesota basketball and Crookston was kind of a place that I seen that I thought was kind of a good place to start and try to get my feet in the water when it comes to coaching higher level basketball, stuff like that, and trying to help build the program and make a program back to what it used to be and back on top.”
Hams knows they have some great athletes and pretty good players. “I watched some of their games last year, and I’m super excited for the team that we’re going to have this year. I know we’re going to be able to compete with some of the bigger schools that they kind of seem to struggle with back in the times and stuff like that,” said Hams. “And it’ll be nice to have some of the most of the girls coming back from last year. And I know that they had a decent season last year. They competed with some of the bigger schools and were able to hang with the big time schools. And hopefully we can kind of do the same thing this year and, you know, with improvement and try to improve the best we can with the best of our abilities and hope for a great season and hope for a good turnout for girls numbers and wise and stuff like that.”
Hams added that he wants the girls to work hard and keep improving, “There’s always room for improvement. So that’s the goal is always try to improve every single day.”
Activities Director Evan Pederson said they are accepting applications for J.V./Assistant and junior high coaching positions. Anyone interested in applying can contact Pederson at evanpederson@isd593.org.