Girls basketball adds more Wichita State connections

Former Wichita State women’s basketball coach Jody Adams-Birch and player Jessica Diamond have been hired as assistants.

It’s quite a transition from a Division 1 team to a Class 6A high school team.

“I like to surround myself with great people, and they have qualities, attributes as people and as coaches that maybe I’m weaker in and maybe vice versa,” Derby coach Jodie Karsak said. “I just believe in surrounding yourself with people who are going to make you better and these two are definitely going to make me a better coach, person and our team go far and beyond. So I’m super excited.”

Adams-Birch and Karsak have been friends for a long time, brought together by their Wichita State connections — Karsak played for the Shockers in the 1990s. Over the summer, their bond intensified as they ran the Panthers basketball camp together and worked with Derby junior guard Tor’e Alford, whose father died in the spring.

Adams-Birch’s resume is phenomenal.

“She has 27 years of experience from playing with Pat Summitt at Tennessee to coaching WSU. She’s going to help us out a ton,” Karsak said. “… I asked if she’d be interested in our camp and she came and helped us. I started thinking if Adams-Birch would even consider (being an assistant). About a month ago, I called her and she was very thankful. She thought about it and accepted within the week and things started happening.”

Adams-Birch was the Wichita State University women’s basketball coach from 2008 to 2017. She coached nine seasons, won Missouri Valley Conference titles in 2013, 2014, and 2015 and had three NCAA tournament appearances.

In January, though, WSU replaced Adams-Birch as coach. In a text, Adams-Birch wrote, “we separated amicably.”

Adams-Birch is thrilled to coach at Derby.

“To me, there isn’t a lot of choices in winning! You are not doing the common consistently but what you are doing is the uncommon!” Adams-Birch wrote in a text. “I’m blessed to work for Coach Karsak.”

Karsak, whose team was 20-5 and lost 44-42 in the Class 6A title game in March, hired Diamond in the spring. Diamond will be the junior varsity coach.

“I think the girls are going to really feed off her energy, but not only that, she’s going to come in and demonstrate full speed. She’s still got it in terms of playing,” Karsak said. “She’s really ready to get into the coaching role at the JV level, and she’s going to be able to make the calls for that team.”

Diamond played for Wichita State from 2009 – 2012 as a guard underneath Adams-Birch’s time as the head coach.

“It was a great learning experience playing under Jody Adams,” Diamond said. “She has very extensive knowledge of the game and experience as a player.”

The duo of Adams-Birch and Diamond is exactly what Karsak wants in her program.

“I want greatness around me. Greatness in terms — we’re big on character, we want to continue to grow as people and as coaches. Those are the same things we want for our players. So I’m saying Coach Adams-Birch and Coach Diamond both embody those things,” Karsak said. “We’re excited about the next thing, really engaged in the process of it all.”

Alford and junior forward Kennedy Brown, both three-year starters and key players are thrilled with the hires.

“There will definitely be changes made. Practices will be more intense and the expectations will be higher overall,” Brown wrote in a text. “I think they will be able to help develop us as players and show us what it is like to play at that level.”

Alford wrote in a text: “The standards will for sure be higher. The coaches expect us to play like we are playing our last game ever. They expect nothing less. If we don’t give them that maximum effort it results in possibly a loss. In my opinion, we’ve fell short way too many times, and it’s not gonna happen this year.

“We’ve got y’all this season. State champs. I promise.”