University head coach Nicole Bradshaw and assistant coach Bob Bernal are pictured with the Pacific Coast League champion Trojans this past season (Photo: Tim Burt, For OC Sports Zone).
After seven seasons as University High’s head girls basketball coach, Nicole Bradshaw has resigned to spend more time with her family.
No replacement has been made.
Bradshaw, who was an assistant coach at Golden West College and the head coach at Santa Ana Valley before taking the University job, said the decision was a difficult one.
“At this time, I just need to step away from coaching because my oldest daughter is going to be in high school,” Bradshaw said Monday. “She plays winter sports so I decided to step down for now and spend more time with my family.”
Bradshaw’s daughter Emily, 13, plays soccer and basketball and will attend El Toro High in the fall. Bradshaw and her husband Chris, have another daughter Camryn, who is in the sixth grade.
Bradshaw told the Uni players a couple weeks ago about her decision.
“Obviously, I wanted to stress to them it had nothing to do with them,” Bradshaw said. “And that it was a very difficult decision because they all know my love for the game and for the girls and the program that I’ve tried to establish or carry on. My kids are only going to be in high school one time and there is a lot of time that goes into being a head coach and I would miss way too much and I would be really upset with myself if I did that.
“I enjoy watching my children play sports and being involved with them and I haven’t been able to coach them and I’m actually coaching their all-star team now and I’m kind of enjoying that part of it.”
Bradshaw led University to three Pacific Coast league titles, including championships in the last two years. She said coaches typically want to come back to win more.
“But I’m happy with the way we finished the last two years and I think it’s another reason that makes it hard is because you are leaving kids who are still part of the program,” she said. “But I think there’s always going to be one more kid that you want to stay for.”
This year’s team finished 21-8 overall and 10-0 in the PCL and advanced into the second round of the CIF 2AA playoffs, losing to Rolling Hills Prep 67-41. Bradshaw led the Trojans to the playoffs each of the years she coached. The 2018 team also went 10-0 in the PCL.
“I’ve never won a second round playoff game, unfortunately but we made it to the second round a few years,” she said.
Bradshaw said she expects to be coaching again after her daughters finish high school.
“I can’t see myself staying away forever but I would say it would be at least six years, if not more, because my youngest will then go through high school,” she said.
Bradshaw said she has already missed a lot of her daughters’ activities and it’s also been challenging for her husband, Chris.
“He’s been amazing all these years, kind of like being a single dad in the winter,” she said. “I wouldn’t have been able to coach without him because he’s got to take the kids to some sporting event every single day. It’s been tough but he knows how much I love doing what I was doing and I think that’s what makes it so hard.
“I enjoy every aspect of coaching. It does take kind of a special person because you’re definitely not in it for the money. You have to be very organized outside of basketball. After seven years, I finally kind of got a system and everything ran smoothly and now I’m leaving.”
Bradshaw, who teaches calculus, said she will continue to teach at University.
Before coming to University, Bradshaw coached at Santa Ana Valley for five years and was named the Orange County coach of the year in 2001 after leading the Falcons to a league title in her second year. Santa Ana Valley won two league titles under Bradshaw.
She also was named head coach of the Orange County all-star game two times and assistant coach once.
Bradshaw played high school basketball at Woodbridge, where she graduated from in 1993. She then played two years at Golden West and finished her career at Cal State Stanislaus.
Bradshaw said she will miss the families at University and the coaches she has coached with and against.
“I’ve been very fortunate to meet some great people and some great coaches across the county and I will miss the comradery amongst the coaches,” she said. “Hopefully, they’re all still around when I come back.”
Bradshaw knows there will be adjustment in her life.
“It will take me a little while to step back,” she said. “Everybody knows how passionate I am. That part of it just doesn’t go away that easily. So it’s going to take a little while to step back and take on a new role in my life.”
“I’m so used to going all the time. I’m looking forward to it, but I know I’m going to miss it.”
-Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com
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