STAYING IN CHARGE: HELENBOLT NAMED OFFICIAL COACH

BY SETH ROMSA TRIBUNE SPORTS WRITER
Courtesy of the Powell Tribune

After a year on the sidelines leading the Northwest College women's basketball team, coach Cody Helenbolt has been rehired to take the permanent position, giving him the opportunity to lead the Trappers once again after a 17-14 debut season. 

REFLECTING ON THE YEAR
Reflecting on his first season at the helm after moving to Powell from Douglas, Helenbolt felt like it was a good start to his college coaching career, and received positive feedback from his players along the way.

"I was happy with it," Helenbolt said. "I had a lot of good feedback from the kids. They seem to enjoy it."

Transitioning from the high school level to college Helenbolt was uncertain which of his schemes would translate well, and needed to get used to a new landscape which he wasn't used to in his long tenure at Douglas High School.

"I think it was a good learning year for me. I wasn't sure what of the stuff that I did as a high school coach was going to translate. I think there were some really good things that translated well, and then some things that I'm going to want to tweak a little bit. I always kind of do that, reflect on it and try to be better every year," Helenbolt said, noting that he's had to adjust to having no full time assistant coaches. "I was able to get coach (Jacob) Price to help me out a lot which helped me a ton. But, I've had three assistant coaches every year for the last 11 years. So I think trying to figure that out is important because it is just a whole new layer of challenge that I haven't really dealt with before that I have to kind of figure out a little bit."

Stepping into the position late in the recruiting process just under a year ago, Helenbolt was uncertain about how this season would go for the Trappers, but in the end he felt it was a successful season despite getting into the game late.

"I think there's a lot of ways getting hired in May (2024) that the season could kind of go not so well, with me not having any college experience and then not really getting to recruit too much," Helenbolt said. "To have a winning record, have a home play-in game and then have it be so close in that home play-in game? There's a lot of positives. I think there's a lot of positive momentum."

RECRUITING AND COMMUNITY

Helenbolt said he attributes that success in part to the community support the Trappers received this year. 

"The girls said that they really felt they had a lot of community support this year," he said.

He added that the community support has played a key role in signing some future Trappers, and that will need to continue into the future if Northwest hopes to continue competing with larger schools that have poured additional money into their respective athletic programs.

"That's good for moving forward. I think I saw that with the recruits that came in. They were really positive about it. Like 'man, you guys get some people here, you have some community support,' and they liked it. The last two recruits I had come in basically were committed almost immediately after coming, so I think we're heading in the right direction," Helenbolt said. "We're a smaller community, so the little things like people showing up to games are going to be essential for us if we want to continue to be competitive." 

OFFSEASON PLANS
Since he took the position late in the cycle last season Helenbolt has been nonstop in his position since May.

"I feel like I've been nonstop since I made the decision to take this job in May (2024). I was nonstop anyway through June with my high school job. But then I'd usually get about six weeks to kind of relax before I had to go back into it and coach football and do all those things," Helenbolt said. "But last year I took no break, and on top of that I was moving, so it's probably been since 2023 since I've had a break. So yeah, I'm really looking forward to having some time to explore the area and really look back and reflect on my year."

That offseason won't be fully devoid of basketball activities, as Helenbolt said with his current recruiting class nearly complete he is starting to turn his eye toward the future while also not having to drive back-and-forth between Douglas and Powell again this summer.

"(Maybe) do some recruiting into the future for the 2026 class. Really take my time and pick a couple kids to try to get here for next year. Do all the things with a little bit more time now living here," Helenbolt said. "I commuted back and forth between Douglas and here recruiting like 15 times, and it was just a lot. Very much looking forward to the offseason."

One thing is for certain: Helenbolt is relieved to be through the work of dropping the interim tag and is ready to retain the helm for the Trappers moving forward.

"I'm super excited to be done with all of the process and the interviews and stuff like that, and quit having people knocking on my door asking me 'are you moving again?'" he said. "It's exciting to just be kind of done with all that."