High Hopes for Hoops at Northwestern

Perhaps the most pivotal experience in the life of Linsey Bailey came in the late 1980s, just after he had entered college in South Carolina.

Raised by his grandparents, Bailey had to leave school and return home after his grandfather passed away. Bailey was on the men's basketball team at the time at Baptist College, which is now Charleston Southern.

Bailey eventually got married, had a family and kept plugging award toward his degree, which he earned 10 years ago from Charleston Southern. He did not play basketball after returning to school but he stayed in the game as a coach at the high school level.

After a stint as an assistant girls basketball coach last season at Flowers, Bailey was named the girls varsity basketball coach in June at

"I am very excited about this opportunity, about being able to put my stamp on this program," Bailey told Patch. "Whatever happened with Northwestern basketball in the past, that is where it will stay (in the past) from this point on."

Bailey added that he wants to be part of the community and to that end his family, which includes his wife and two sons, has moved to downtown Hyattsville from Beltsville.

But this will not be the first head coaching job in Prince George's for Bailey, who has been a physical education teacher for public high schools. He said July 19 he is not sure what school he will be teaching at this coming academic year.

He moved from South Carolina to Maryland in 2008 and was an assistant that first season at Flowers.

He then became the head girls coach at Potomac for the 2009-10 season and led the team to a record of 8-13 after the team had gone winless the previous season.

Bailey was a high school basketball coach in his native South Carolina, where he was a second-team all-county player his senior year.

The new head coach for the Wildcats said he has had little contact with players in the Northwestern program since he was named to the job just prior to summer vacation.

"We played a couple of summer league games," he said. "Some of them were already involved in AAU basketball. I did not tell them they had to come and play with us. I don't care where you are playing as long as the coach is giving good instruction and is a positive role model.

"They are hard-working young ladies and they listen very well," Bailey added. "That is a good thing about taking over this program: this is definitely my program."

But the coming season could be a challenge for Bailey.

"The bulk of the talent graduated last season," he said. "We will be influenced by a lot of freshmen and underclassmen. I heard there are some good holdovers from last year that are very talented."

Bailey said he hopes to get more players into the program during open gymn when school starts in a few weeks. Northwestern was around .500 last season, Bailey said.

"I want people who are coachable. If you are coachable, me and my staff can work with you," he said.