The Goshen College women’s basketball team has welcomed Jio Fontan as head coach this season. Tyra Carver ’16, Fontan’s predecessor, spent three seasons with the Maple Leafs and two as head coach.

The Leafs are coming off a 4-24 season with a 1-17 record in the Crossroads League. They found their sole conference win at home against the Taylor University Trojans.

Fontan is coming in with both playing and coaching experience under his belt. “I was fortunate enough to play at [the University of Southern California] for three years. I was captain of the team — played with some guys that are in the NBA now.” 

Fontan spent the last 12 years coaching high school varsity before deciding to move up to the college level. “A friend of mine actually played in the Crossroads League a long time ago — she was aware that I was looking to make a jump up. She said, ‘You know what, there’s a school in Indiana, Goshen College. They’re looking for a coach.’ I put my name in the hat. I was fortunate enough Dwight [Gingerich] reached out.”

Fontan is aware of the inevitable culture shift as he comes into this team environment. “I think the biggest thing is to make sure we address the fact that this is going to be a new culture. It’s going to be a different environment. For the most part, we want to be as positive as possible, but we want to make sure we put the work in and be realistic and understand we have some adjustments we need to make.” 

Sarah Elfrey, a senior forward, said, “We do find it important to keep the values and cultures that we learned from playing under Tyra. We understand that, as a new coach, it’s going to be a new way of things. So not to shut ourselves off from that, but to be open towards the new coach. And so, if anything, we’ve tried to turn Tyra’s departure into a positive light. We’ve shared with new players how it was for us in the past — how it has been with our teammates — but we’ve shared it in a way that it’s encouragement for us to do better this year.”

Junior guard Carrie Hiler has the most experience with the team and spoke on the coaching Fontan has brought in so far this season. “Coach Jio is really pushing us. When something breaks down, you move past it because other teams can scout that you might be hurting or aren’t sure what to do, and they can take advantage of that,” she said.

The team only has five returning players. Four first-years and three transfers are joining the team this season, making the majority of the team new to GC. 

Elfrey was hesitant about playing with such a new team. “Before coming and meeting everybody, I thought, ‘This is going to be a young team … I don’t know how it will be,’” Elfrey said. “But having played with everybody, we all get along so great and it’s such an enjoyable environment so far … We’re building that chemistry off the court, and I just hope it translates on the court.” 

The Leafs’ season opener takes place at home at the end of October during the Ruth Gunden Classic. They play the University of Michigan Dearborn Wolverines on Oct. 30 and the Defiance College Yellow Jackets on Oct. 31.