Sara Nord looking to build a winning culture at Rock Creek Academy

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Sara Nord just finished her first year as a head coach at Rock Creek Academy in Sellersburg, Indiana, after eight years as an assistant at Jeffersonville High School. She learned right away that things would be a little different at the new school.

"I came from Jeffersonville, where you had 30 kids at a tryout," Nord said. "You can't really hold a tryout here. They looked at me cross-eyed when I said we're going to have a tryout, and they're like, 'Coach, we're trying out?' I mean, we only have eight players. You don't want to run anybody off. You can't really have tryouts either because you can't make cuts."

Nord was a do-everything guard at Louisville in the early 2000s. She is still No. 1 all-time in assists, No. 2 in steals and No. 9 on the scoring list. She was inducted into the school's hall of fame in 2015, and her number hangs from the rafters at the KFC Yum! Center.

Being a star player doesn't always translate to being a great coach, and Nord knew things would not be easy. Rock Creek was coming off a 1-22 season and hadn't won more than seven games in any one season in the last 15 years.

"I'm competitive in everything I do, and a lot of people question, you know, like 'Sara, what are you gonna do? They only won one game,'" she said.

Having only eight players during a pandemic added an additional challenge. A reduced schedule was reduced even further with game cancellations after the team was quarantined three separate times. But the final record of 2-9 doubled the previous season's win total and provided hope for the future.

"I think I'm a completely different player from what I was at the beginning of the season, and I'm seeing it in everyone else as well," senior guard Leah Thompson said. "We're building a program, and I think that honestly they can get a really good program. She's a great coach, and I don't see any reason why people wouldn't come here to play for her."

"It's not going to happen overnight," Nord said. "I know that. And I'm not going to jump off the bridge if we go 0-35 either. So, you know, it's a challenge, and challenge accepted."