City of Basketball Love

By Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
—

Ken Doyle knows the situation he’s inheriting at Conestoga isn’t the typical one. 

The Pioneers’ new girls head coach takes over a program that’s won 20 games each of the last three years, coming off a runner-up finish in the Central League and a trip to the PIAA Class 6A playoffs, its third straight such appearance. With three senior guards leading the way, Doyle doesn’t have a rebuilding project on his hands: he has a group ready to win, and ready to win now. 

“It’s a unique opportunity that popped up,” Doyle told CoBL, “and the timing was right and for this it worked out. Been swinging a few times recently and it didn’t work out for many different reasons. This one’s the real winner.”

Doyle formally accepted the Conestoga job on Monday night, bringing the former Bishop Shanahan boys’ coach back to the high school ranks for the first time in six years, having spent that stretch on the bench at Haverford College on the men’s side. 

A.J. Thompson, who guided the Pioneers the last seven seasons, resigned after this past season; his daughter Maggie will be a freshman at Owen J. Roberts this fall. The ‘Stoga girls won 22 games a year ago and 68 over the last three seasons, Thompson benefitting from a strong run of hoops talent to come through the western Main Line. Point guard Marisa Francione, a 2024 grad, is playing at Scranton; ‘25 grad Janie Preston started at center for four years and ended up at West Point, while rising senior Ryann Jennings is committed to Lehigh.

Jennings, a 5-11 who already surpassed the 1,000-point boundary as a junior, is one of three returning senior starters that Doyle can lean on along with point guard Libby Brown and combo guard Maggie Neary. 

“It’s exciting, they’ve had some real success this senior class, making the state tournament the last three years,” Doyle said. “I’m looking to come in, continue that success, taking these three seniors that have a lot of experience and success to build off of and hopefully turn it over to the future.”

They’ll have to replace the 6-1 Preston and 5-10 Ursinus commit Kate Martin up front along with MIT commit Ruth Lanouette, the starting point guard a year ago and an excellent ball-handler and defender. 

Doyle’s no stranger to success at the high school level. At Bishop Shanahan, he built the Eagles into the 2018 Ches-Mont League champions. That group, led by Kevin Dodds (Gannon) and David Angelo (Catholic), made it to the District 1 5A championship game and the PIAA 5A second round to finish off a 23-win campaign. 

A 1996 Roman grad, Doyle took over at Shanahan in 2008 after assistant stints at Westtown (2002-06) and West Catholic (2006-08), all on the boys’ side. He had some experience with girls, coaching at the CYO level with Nativity BVM in Media before taking the Shanahan job, getting a chance to coach future Carroll and Drexel standout Sarah Curran before her high school years. He said he was applying for both girls and boys’ jobs when he got the Shanahan gig, and had been doing so again the last couple years. 

Though Doyle said he won’t meet his players until Wednesday, he’s been studying film and tape, getting familiar with the team he’s taking over. It’s too quick of a turnaround to play in this weekend’s live period events; Doyle’s Conestoga coaching debut will have to wait until fall shootouts if not the preseason. 

It’s been six years since Doyle’s coached in the high school ranks and more than a decade since his last time coaching high school girls (at the Billy Lake Summer League), but Doyle is confident that his background at multiple levels and the combined success that he and his players bring to the table will make for a positive result right off the bat.

Without any plans to rock the boat right off the bat, the Pioneers have their eyes on capturing the Central League title for the first time since three straight titles from 2006 to 2008.

“I’m hoping that [I’m] just blending what I’ve done in the coaching ranks [...] with what they’ve done, what they’ve had success with, and build off that,” Doyle said. “One of my bigger philosophies is [that] we’re going to play to our strengths. I’m only going to do things that benefit the girls and the players that we’re working with. 

“We’re going to do things that we’re probably more familiar with. It might not be exactly what they were doing, but it’ll be something that’ll work for the group in the long term.”