With seven trips to the 13th Region Tournament finals in the first 11 years of the program, the Harlan County Lady Bears experienced an amazing start after the school opened in 2008. The Lady Bears haven’t been back since 2018, and Gary Greer began the task of returning to that level on Tuesday when he was named the new head coach.
Greer has been an assistant with the HCHS boys program the last 15 seasons, joining Mike Jones’ staff in the second year of the school’s existence. He coached with Jones, his head coach as a player at Harlan, for six years, then was an assistant with Michael Jones for eight years and Kyle Jones the past two years. Harlan County claimed its second 13th Region title in March and won three games in the state tournament before falling to Lyon County in the finals. It was the best showing for a 13th Region team since Clay County in 1987 and 1988 and the best for a Harlan County team since Harlan in 1944.
“Coach Greer is a proud Harlan County Public Schools employee and has been for nearly 20 years. He has meant so much to our boys basketball program over the years, which is evidenced by the many former players and coaches who reached out highly recommending him,” said Harlan County High School athletic director Eugene Farmer. “Many of them credited his mentorship for their success, not only on the court, but also in their adult life. This is a proud day for all of us with The Harlan County High School athletics family. We are certainly excited to share in the many successes coach Greer will have and look forward to working with him and supporting him along the way.”
“It’s very exciting. I feel every assistant at some point wants to be a head coach,” Greer said. “I’m very thankful that (HCHS Principal Kathy) Mrs. Napier and Mr. Farmer and the site-based council gave me this opportunity.”
Greer said his years as an assistant will help him in his new job
“I learned so much from them including discipline and how to structure practices. Those are some of the things I will take with me,” he said.
Anthony Nolan recently stepped down as coach after 10 seasons over two stints on the job. He posted a 201-97 record overall and led the Lady Bears to the regional finals in 2009, 2010 and 2012 with district championships in 2010 and 2012.
Debbie Green coached for six years, leading HCHS to a 129-48 record with four straight trips to the regional finals from 2016 to 2019 and district titles in 2017, 2018 and 2019. Harlan County won its first 13th Region championship in 2018. Green’s daughter, Blair, was an all-state guard in both 2017 and 2018 before going on to the University of Kentucky.
After falling to 11-12 in 2021, the Lady Bears won 20 games in 2022 and 22 in 2023. They finished 16-14 last year and lost three starters to graduation, including regional player of the year Ella Karst.
“We’re going to get up and down the floor,” Greer said. “We’re not going to be very big, so we’ll get up and down the court and shoot a lot of 3s. We’ll try a lot of different things on defense from full-court press to run and jump. We’ll try to do what we can to put them in a position to win.”
Standout eighth grade point guard Reagan Clem moved into the starting lineup midway through last season, averaging just under six points a game before going down with a knee injury. Junior forward Whitley Teague also returns after averaging 3.8 points and 3.8 rebounds per game.
Several young players stepped into bigger roles this summer with interim coach Cate Mitchell, an assistant last year, leading the team. Freshman guard Kylee Runions had a strong summer after playing well on the junior varsity squad last season. Eighth grade guard Jaycee Simpson and seventh grade guard Taylynn Napier also had good summers, along with junior guard Whitney Noe and junior center Lacey Robinson. Freshman guard Jaylee Cochran should also play a key role in the 2025 season.
Greer was a standout basketball and football player at Harlan. He played on district championship teams in 1997, 1990 and 2000 and was a key member of the 1999 squad that lost to Clay County in the 13th Region finals. Greer’s 1,417 points place him 14th on the all-time scoring list at HHS.
As a quarterback and defensive back in football, Greer helped lead the Green Dragons to a regional championship game as a senior in 1999 before going on to play at the University of Pikeville and Union College.