photo by: Zac Boyer/Journal-World

Free State girls basketball coach Summer Frantz poses for a portrait at Free State High School on June 15, 2022.

When a young camper stole the ball and stormed down the floor for a layup Monday afternoon at the Firebirds’ team camp, newly hired Free State girls basketball coach Summer Frantz couldn’t hold back a smile.

That’s because basketball’s been important to Frantz since her days on the Free State hardwood before her graduation in 2013. The Lawrence native continued her basketball career at the University of Saint Mary alongside her twin sister, Ariana, before returning home to complete a master’s degree in social work at Kansas in 2018.

She rejoined the Firebirds in 2019 as an assistant before being named the program’s first female head coach this summer. She will replace Chris Linner pending approval from Lawrence Public Schools, which could come as soon as later this month.

When asked where she plans to start with the team, Frantz — who is also a counselor at New York Elementary School — quickly identified her first change: character.

“​​We were able to sit down individually with our returners and talk about what we want out of them,” Frantz said. “We want them to be in a leadership role. We have a lot of freshmen this year, so we’re looking at what that looks like, in terms of leading them and being a positive person for them in the gym.”

The Firebirds had one of the smallest rosters in the state last season, Frantz said, and finished 1-20 and at the bottom of the Sunflower League. But with a different coach, there’s a renewed sense of optimism.

“I feel like (Frantz) is more passionate about (the job),” senior Hayden Moore said. “I’ve had her as my coach since my freshman year and I think she’s going to be a great coach for us.”

Former Free State girls basketball coach Bryan Duncan, who coached Frantz with the Firebirds and made three Class 6A state tournament appearances before his resignation in 2016, said he is planning to make it out to a couple of games to watch his former guard in his old chair.

“Summer has familiarity with the team,” Duncan said. “She was an excellent player and pays attention to detail. She will have high expectations, but I also think she has a level of consistency and patience that will be necessary.”

Frantz is setting out to install sportsmanship before the playbook.

“It’s not necessarily just winning the game,” Frantz said. “But getting better every single time when you’re on the court, in practice or whatever. I’m hammering it in, but just being great teammates. That’s where we’re really focused right now. Being great teammates to each other. What does that look like? What does that sound like?”

Frantz’s goal is to encourage more high school girls to become multi-sport athletes. Her strategy, so far, has been to include her team in workouts with other Free State programs and hold team-building exercises, along with taking players to a camp at Missouri Western slated for next week.

“I think we’ve seen fewer girls (in Lawrence) that really love basketball and want to play basketball than when I was here,” Frantz said. “I want to see more girls playing and caring about basketball.”

When Frantz arrived at Saint Mary, the team had ambitions that seemed a bit lofty. But by the time she was a senior, the Spires were competing for the conference championship.

Frantz believes a similar feat can be achieved at Free State in the coming years.

“We came together as a team (at Saint Mary) and talked about our goals,” Frantz said. “And we weren’t focused on what happened that first year. We were kind of just looking to the future and getting better every year.”