Brian Lewis/The Gazette Rochelle Coleman takes over the Paint Branch High School girls basketball program that she helped lead to its last state title as a player in 2001.

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Brian Lewis/The Gazette Rochelle Coleman takes over the Paint Branch High School girls basketball program that she helped lead to its last state title as a player in 2001.
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Brian Lewis/The Gazette Rochelle Coleman takes over the Paint Branch High School girls basketball program that she helped lead to its last state title as a player in 2001.
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Brian Lewis/The Gazette Rochelle Coleman takes over the Paint Branch High School girls basketball program that she helped lead to its last state title as a player in 2001.

Brian Lewis/The Gazette Rochelle Coleman takes over the Paint Branch High School girls basketball program that she helped lead to its last state title as a player in 2001.

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If there’s one career track Paint Branch High graduate Rochelle Coleman didn’t expect to follow after graduating from Syracuse University earlier last decade, it would be as a high school coach.

“If you had asked me when I graduated from Paint Branch if I wanted to be the coach at Paint Branch, I would have told you no,” she said. “In fact, I remember having that conversation with [then] Coach [Heather] Podosek and telling her I would not coach at Paint Branch, it just was not my mindset when I was 18.”

Ten years later, Coleman is running the same Panthers program she helped lead to a state championship in 2001. She stepped into the role following the departure of Daniel Feher, who took over from current Paint Branch athletic director Heather Podosek last winter.

“Once I started my college career and understood the game better, I started taking an interest in teaching and coaching basketball,” she said. “I started helping out the program by coaching summer league and helping out in practice. It took me getting through my own personal basketball career and recognizing that I enjoyed coaching to get to this point.”

One thing is for sure: If Coleman is as good at coaching as she was playing, the Panthers will return quickly to their status among the county and state’s best squads. An injury plagued 2010-11 season led to a seven-win campaign.

“Rochelle was an intense and hardworking player,” Podosek said. “She was one of a kind — made everyone around her better [and] expected everyone to raise their game. She outworked everyone on the court, off the court and in the offseason.

“She was not afraid to say what needed to be said to her teammates and taught her teammates how to become leaders. She always did whatever was needed for her team — rebound, defend their best player, score the big basket or be so unselfish to hit the open player. She was not about herself. She is 100 percent about the team. She does not take ‘No’ or ‘Can't’ as an answer as a player or as a coach.”

A four-year varsity player for Podosek, Coleman, a 5-foot-8 guard-forward, was the two-time Gazette Player of the Year during her junior and senior campaigns. The team reached the state playoffs on three separate occasions, including the 3A title campaign in 2001.

As a junior during the 1999-2000 season, she produced 19 points and 10.3 rebounds per game while also totaling 110 steals, 83 assists and 20 blocks. She contributed 17 points and nine rebounds during the state championship run and finished as the school’s all-time points leader with 1,591.

“It was very interesting and fun playing with Rochelle,” said Paint Branch assistant coach and former player Latasha Kelly. “She was able to help me learn a lot of things while playing with her.

“What made Rochelle so good was how she was there for everyone on the team and made sure we all were on point. She was an all-around good player, on and off the court. If there was anything we needed to know that related to basketball, Rochelle was able to assist us.”

Coleman added: “Winning the Maryland State Championship my senior year was a culmination of hard work of the entire program. It was one of the highlights.”

Coleman took her game to Syracuse University (N.Y.) and experienced a productive four-year stint, including being named the team’s freshman of the year in 2002. She finished third all-time at the school with 152 career 3-pointers.

Coleman played in 108 games, including 61 starts, and averaged 8.2 points and 2.8 rebounds and produced 196 assists and 126 steals during her career. Her best season came as a sophomore, when she scored 13.5 points per game. Coleman led the Orange with 97 assists as a senior in 2005.

“I enjoyed playing against Big East and the top programs that the conference has,” she said. “I learned so much as a student-athlete at the university. Sure, I would have liked to won more games, but honestly, I am happy with my college career. I would not trade the experience and lessons learned for anything.”

After brief stints with the Celeritas Donar Professional Team in the Netherlands in 2007 and the semiprofessional Delaware Lady Destroyers in 2005, Coleman joined the Paint Branch staff and eventually spent two seasons as the program’s junior varsity coach before taking the varsity job.

“The day I was able to interview coaches this past year for the girls basketball head coaching position, I really went into it with an open mind and [with] a panel of four other staff members,” Podosek said. “Rochelle knocked the ball out of the park. She was prepared and answered questions with thought and clarity. Our assistant principal threw a curveball question at her and she handled it well.

“I am so proud to have Rochelle take over this program. It is a great fit for our girls and our community. She is in it for the long haul. As with any young coach she will make some mistakes, but after 28 years of coaching, I still made mistakes.”

Coleman will rely on senior guard Brigette Ocran (17.1 ppg last year) and Springbrook transfer Kiara Colston to turn the program’s fortunes around this winter. The Panthers won 22 games two years ago.

jpeters@gazette.net