THE FRONT ROW WITH JASON ELLIOTT: June 7, 2014

The landscape of the 5A Inland Empire League in girls basketball will change next year, that's for certain.

How much, remains to be seen.

COEUR d'ALENE WILL graduate six players from last year's state championship team, five that started and played all but 48 seconds in the state title game, and another who came off the bench in the closing moments.

The other state qualifier from the north was Lewiston, which will have a new head coach next winter after coach Pat Teichmer resigned following the season.

Those departures could leave the door open for Lake City and Post Falls, who return most of their starters next year.

Even in the nearby Greater Spokane League, Lewis and Clark girls basketball coach Jim Redmon resigned following the season to take over the boys job at the school.

But don't expect to see Coeur d'Alene coach Dale Poffenroth, who has coached girls throughout his career and who won his 590th career game in the championship game in February, do the same.

"It's a different game," said Poffenroth of coaching boys or girls basketball. "I talked to (Redmon) a long time about it because Terry Reed did the same thing at LC, and he had some really good girls teams."

Poffenroth coached at Central Valley for 17 years before coming to Coeur d'Alene in 2004.

"Jimmy was looking for something new," Poffenroth said. "I was looking for something new when I came to Coeur d'Alene. He talked to me about it a little bit when he did it and I told him that if he wants something different, then you should do it. Life is too short to not take a chance at it. But I know he's going to find it a little different, that's for sure."

WHAT THE Vikings return as far as depth is not much, with only Emily Callahan, who played sparingly as a sophomore after returning from injury after the holiday break, the only varsity returnee with experience.

Three players, likely starters next year, have since transferred from the district in the last two years, with Erin Higbie going to West Valley and Tabitha Wellsandt moving to Kamiakin. Tabitha's younger sister, Maysun, was a freshman on Kamiakin's varsity roster this year.

Poffenroth had the chance to coach Higbie again in Tuesday's Jack Blair Memorial Girls All-Star Basketball Classic at University High, with Higbie scoring eight points in the Region's 93-92 overtime win against the Metro squad.

"It would be nice to have her playing for us," Poffenroth said of Higbie. "But things happen. She'd be great to have though. So would the Wellsandts. We'd have a completely different team next year."

Others projected for the varsity next year played most of their minutes at the junior varsity level this year, so things will look a lot different next year.

Getting to the state tournament will also be a little more difficult, with the region's runner-up having to win a play-in game to advance to the state tournament in 2015.

There could be a changing of the guard next year.

We'll see what that means in a few months.

Jason Elliott is a sports writer for the Coeur d'Alene Press. He can be reached by telephone at 664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via email at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at JEPressSports.