The journey back home

When Nicole Symons graduated from Lake City High in 1995, she wasn’t totally sure she’d ever want to get into coaching.

After playing at Northwest University in Kirkland, Wash., and spending the past two years as an assistant girls basketball coach at Coeur d’Alene High, she’s right in the middle of it as the new head coach of the Viking program.

Symons, the former Nicole Nipp, played her first three years of high school basketball at Coeur d’Alene, transferring to Lake City when it opened for the 1994-95 school year.

“It wasn’t something I thought I’d do coming out of high school,” Symons said of coaching. “It’s more of the journey that I’ve been on since then. I’ve been coaching my kids (Madi, who’s 14, and Caden, 12,) through AAU and kind of got back into it.”

Symons played on teams at Coeur d’Alene that won a state title in 1992 — when she split time as a freshman between JV and varsity — and 1994 as a junior, then again for Lake City in 1995 in her senior year. Coeur d’Alene was third in 1993, Symons’ sophomore year.

Symons took over the program after Scott Stockwell was placed on administrative leave, then resigned following the season.

Stockwell was 21-39 in three seasons as coach after being hired to replace Dale Poffenroth in 2016.

“It was kind of a hard decision to apply, but a good decision,” Symons said. “I think it’s a good fit for me.”

“We had a few other in-district candidates who considered applying, but when they heard Nicole was applying, they strongly recommended that we go with her,” Coeur d’Alene High athletic director Mike Randles said. “Nicole is highly regarded in the basketball community and has considerable ties to the youth programs. Additionally, she brings a source of stability to our program. She received high praise from many of our players, parents and supporters. We feel fortunate to have someone with her basketball IQ and energy to assume those duties.”

Nicole’s husband, Corey, is the head men’s basketball coach at North Idaho College.

“It seems kind of natural and fine,” Symons said of both being head basketball coaches. “Each of us have our own opinions about the other’s program. It’s kind of nice to have someone to bounce things off and glean some things from. It’s going to be crazy, but our kids love being in the gym.”

Nicole is a co-director of the North Idaho Elite AAU boys and girls basketball program, along with Corey, taking over for Chris Carlson, North Idaho College women’s basketball coach, and his wife Carey, a former NIC assistant, who founded the program.

“Chris Carlson and Carey started the program years ago,” Nicole Symons said. “I was coaching a few teams in the community and went to Chris about the possibility of expanding to third-to-eighth grade and in the last three years, we’ve had anywhere from 12 to 17 teams.”

Coeur d’Alene High went 7-12 last season, advancing to the 5A Region 1 championship game before falling to Lake City. The Vikings then lost the second-place game to Post Falls, in a game where the winner advanced to a state play-in game.

“I just couldn’t imagine walking away from the girls right now,” Symons said. “I wanted to be part of their journey. I had a great experience playing high school basketball and just want to provide that same thing for these kids. I want to help restore the Viking program to where they’ve been in the past.”

Coeur d’Alene’s last appearance at state was in 2014, when the Vikings beat Rocky Mountain for its fourth title in seven years.

“We’ve got an experienced group back,” Symons said. “We’re not going to be real big or tall. We’ll mostly be guards and a few that can play small forward. I’m really excited to see them compete next year.”

Symons added that the team will try to play at a fast pace next year.

“We’re going to do a lot of dribble drive,” Symons said. “I’m really excited to get going. After last year, and having that success, it kind of creates an urgency and they want to get back into it.”