by Michael Swisher (@michaelswisher)5/10/2023 12:01:47 PM
posted in: Articles | 6,174 views
Luke Broadbent will be in the same type of situation.
He’s just moving to the other side of the state to do it.
Broadbent on Monday was approved as the new girls basketball coach at Red Oak.
The Cashion native has spent the last five years coaching the Leedey girls program.
His teams were 90-55 in that stretch went to the Class B state quarterfinals three of the last four years.
Broadbent, who has family roots in the western Oklahoma community, didn’t come by the decision to leave easily.
“I love Leedey. I love this community and, especially, I love my kids here,” he said.
“They are such incredible kids. We have been blessed with a lot of success during my time here.”
Yet, Broadbent, his wife and newborn baby will be packing up and moving 300 miles to the southeast.
“I will always have fond memories of being here,” Broadbent said of Leedey. “But Red Oak offered me something that I just could not turn down.”
The schools are reflective of one another.
Both are in rural settings.
Both have strong softball traditions (Leedey has eight slow pitch titles; Red Oak has seven slow pitch, including 2023, and eight fastpitch crowns).
Both have realized their share of success in girls basketball as well.
Leedey has made 22 total trips to state with one title.
Red Oak has been 10 times, eight of those trips since 2011.
The Lady Eagles have been in the state finals three times during that stretch, but haven’t reached Oklahoma’s elite eight since 2019.
The 2023 squad was 22-5 under Casey Butcher and reached the Class A area finals before dropping consecutive games to Riverside and Quinton. Butcher will remain the Lady Eagles' softball coach.
Red Oak will offer the same type of circumstances for Broadbent, just in a different setting. While Broadbent admits the move is a “a big one,” he also says the opportunity for success awaits.
“I think Red Oak is one of - if not THE - staples of small schools east of I-35,” he said. “ It’s got great administration, great kids and great coaches and tremendous tradition.”