Highland Park ISD added two new coaches at the high school level earlier this week.
Todd Monsey has been named the new girls’ basketball head coach at Highland Park High and will also serve as a physical education teacher.
“I am honored to join Highland Park ISD as the new girls’ basketball coach,” Monsey said in an official press release from the district. “Our goal as a program will be to honor the tradition of greatness at Highland Park while empowering our student-athletes to a new level of success as a basketball program.”
Monsey comes to Highland Park after four seasons at Frisco Lonestar High School. He brings 18 years of high school head coaching experience — including 16 postseason appearances and three trips to the state tournament– and replaces Nicole Fleming, who spent nine years leading the program.
“He is a proven leader who will build a program that has high energy, executes at a championship level, and empowers our young women to become quality leaders,” HPISD Athletic Director Lonnie Jordan explained in the release. “He is truly committed to building a program that will benefit our Lady Scots long after they have left the court.”
The Highland Park program is coming off a season in which it went 26-8 and lost to Coppell in the area round of the 5A. The team has not finished a season with a losing record since 2017-18.
Highland Park High School has also hired Justin James as its new girls’ gymnastics head coach.
James has spent the last 14 years at Kingwood High School in Humble ISD and has previous experience as a coach and administrator at multiple gymnastics training facilities. He replaces Brandi Wren, who is now with Wylie ISD.
“I am extremely proud to be the new leader of HP Girls gymnastics,” James remarked in a press release. “The administration and community support are second to none, and I am humbled to be part of such a great team. I can’t wait to get started upholding and expanding the rich traditions of Highland Park Gymnastics.”
“We are excited to welcome these two outstanding professionals to the HPISD Athletics program,” Jordan concluded.
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Duncanville ISD also made a significant hire in its athletic department this week, naming Frisco Memorial head football coach Derick Roberson as its new athletic director.
Roberson spent five years in Frisco ISD as Memorial’s first head football coach. He has also worked with the Dallas Skyline and Bryan Adams football programs and now becomes the third new Duncanville athletic director in the last year, replacing interim athletic director Kennya Larkin-Landers, who was given the role amid issues with the boys’ and girls’ basketball programs that led to Doug Weaver being reassigned.
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OTHER HIGH SCHOOL NOTES
— Southlake Carroll’s Kennedy Fuller has been named the Gatorade National Girls Soccer Player of the Year. Fuller scored a school record 55 goals and becomes the second Texan and first since 2007 to win the national award. Flower Mound Marcus’ Emma Sralla also won the company’s state award in girls’ track and field.
— Â Several high school football players have announced their college commitments, including Highland Park’s Parker Thompson (Air Force), Richland’s Daniel Cruz (Texas), Mesquite Horn’s Armstrong Nnodim, Coppell’s Baron Tipton (North Texas), and Flower Mound Marcus’ Jack Tanner.
— Conroe The Woodlands, Argyle, Canyon Randall, Gunter, Mason, and Nazareth high schools were named the winners of the UIL’s Lone Star Cup for 2022-23, given to schools based on overall achievement in academic, athletic, and music competitions.
