Bend High names cross-county, girls basketball coaches

Published 5:00 am Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Bend High will have a pair of new head coaches at the start of the 2009-10 school.

Lisa Nye has been named the school’s new cross-country coach, and Todd Ervin has been named the Lava Bears’ new girls basketball coach.

“We’re really lucky … to get two people of their quality,” said Bend High Athletic Director Greg Hammond.

Both coaches come with impressive pedigrees.

Nye, a second-year social studies teacher at Bend High, was a standout track and cross-country runner at Bend’s Mountain View High School and at the University of Oregon. After college, Nye, whose maiden name is Karnopp, ran at the U.S. Olympic Trials in 1996 (10,000-meter race) and 2000 (steeplechase). She has assisted both Mountain View and Summit high schools and currently is an assistant distance coach for Bend High’s track team.

“I love to share the passion of running together with athletes,” said Nye, who takes over head coaching duties from Pam Bradbury, who will remain on staff as an assistant.

Erwin takes over the Lava Bears’ girls basketball job after 11 years as an assistant basketball coach at Bend High. A former minor-league baseball player in the Detroit Tigers’ organization, Erwin was an assistant for 10 years under Bend High boys basketball coach Don Hayes before assisting girls hoops coach Steve Hayes last season. Ervin also was the head boys basketball coach at Claremont High School in Claremont, Calif., for five years before coming to Bend.

“Steve’s done a great job getting this program going the right way,” said Ervin, a science teacher at High Desert Middle School. “The program’s in pretty good shape.”