Berkley Names New Girls Basketball Coach.

Written Thursday July 6th at 5:45 PM
Updated to include corrected information Friday July 7th at 10:40 AM

The Berkley Bears have their new Girls Basketball Coach.

The Bears named Kirk Carolan as their new coach replacing Jordan Gruppen, whom stepped down last May.

Carolan coached the Junior Varsity program under Gruppen for one season and was an Athletic Director in the Macomb L’Anse Creuse School District.

Carolan will have some players returning from a team that went 17-5 last season in Olivia Dicarlo, Savanna Casida, and Marshayla Denham.

Berkley could be a serious contender in the Blue this season as they will face the likes of Avondale, Oak Park, Harrison, Ferndale, Hazel Park, Farmington, and Pontiac. The Bears are the early favorites in the division. Berkley is in a tough district at Detroit Renaissance with the Phoenix, Oak Park, Hazel Park, and Warren Fitzgerald.

Thoughts.

It’s an interesting hire that the Bears went within their program to get their head coach. Berkley has had two successful seasons and Carolan has been a part of one of them under Gruppen.

Berkley should be a contender this season in the Blue but Avondale will be their biggest challenger, once they get into district play they will have to deal with Detroit Renaissance. The Phoenix did eliminate the Bears from the playoffs last season in the district semifinals.

The Bears must address their depth especially in the paint. They lost a ton of talent last year from those positions. Berkley has a star player in Dicarlo now the question for Carolan would be is can they get help for Dicarlo and address the depth, that will be the major question for the Bears.

This will be interesting, stay tuned to OAA Now for the latest on this developing story.