THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE: New Lakeland girls coach Caulfield — ‘exactly where I’m supposed to be’

When Caelyn Caulfield found out there was an opening for head girls basketball coach at Lakeland High, she was with the Hawks’ softball team in Montana, in her role as assistant coach. 

She was also a varsity assistant for Lakeland’s girls basketball team this past season, and was junior varsity girls coach the season before. 

And when she got back to school ... 

“I went into (athletic director) Matt Neff’s office and said, ‘I want this job,’” Caulfield said. 

She even ran open gyms for the girls during the interview process for the job, not knowing during those two weeks if she was going to be the one working with those players in the future. 

Until recently, when Caulfield was named to replace Tyrel Derrick, who resigned after two seasons to spend more time with his family. 

“As news broke that Tyrel was going to step down, I was like, ‘Man, I have to step in and take over,” Caulfield said earlier this week. “I wasn’t planning on it, to be completely honest; I’ve been an assistant coach for a while. But as soon as I started planning, it was kind of a fire that just kept building. And it was like, 'This is what I’m supposed to be doing.’”

And now ... 

“It feels good to be in charge of a program, and implementing things that I would like to see at Lakeland,” Caulfield said, “building off the culture that I got to start with him the last two years.” 

CAULFIELD, daughter of a long-time basketball coach in California, was one of three finalists for the Lakeland girls job. 

“What jumps out the most is her passion and her excitement about coaching this group of young ladies,” Neff said. “She was with Tyrel last year, and sees the potential of this group and the direction they’re headed. She’s got great connections with those girls already. They’re excited to have her, and she’s excited to get going.” 

Neff added that during the interview process, “it was very apparent, nobody wanted that job more than her,” he said.  “There’s no denying, she’s all in. And typically, when people want something bad in life, they’re willing to do all the necessary things to make it successful.” 

After nearly three decades of continuity in the girls basketball program at Lakeland, Caulfield will be the Hawks’ third head coach in four seasons. 

Steve Seymour coached the Lakeland girls for 27 seasons, then Derrick was head coach the past two seasons. 

Caulfield, in charge of detention and who also runs some study hall classes at Lakeland, said she wants to continue the discipline, work ethic and love of the game and teammates from the past two years with Derrick. 

But she also has her own ideas. 

“My stamp is going to be, we are running a tough man-to-man defense; no switching screens,” Caulfield said. “We did the Buzz zone last year, and that became our identity at the end, but my stamp’s going to be man-to-man.” 

She wants to keep the dribble-drive offense, and push the ball.  

“I’ve built a relationship with these girls,” Caulfield said. “I’m going to ask them to do hard things throughout the year ... knowing that they trust me to lead them in the right direction.” 

HER FATHER, Richard Graey, coached in southern California and then in northern California for some 40 years.  

He coached at the University of Redlands, and also coached at Eureka High north of San Francisco, where Caelyn played on the varsity for four years, and was good enough as a sophomore to be invited to an adidas All-American camp in Georgia. 

Caulfield played at Shasta College in Redding, Calif., then finished at NCAA Division II Barton College in Wilson, N.C. 

After college, she was an assistant at the College of the Redwoods in Eureka, and then at Oregon Tech in Klamath Falls, where she would meet her husband. They eventually moved to the Inland Northwest because of his job with the railroad, eventually settling in Rathdrum in 2016.  

With a son, now 10, and a daughter, now 6, Caulfield took a break from basketball coaching. When she mentioned to an administrator from Lakeland that she was ready to get back into coaching,  she was told the Hawks’ girls basketball job had opened for the first time in nearly three decades, and the program needed some coaches. 

Under Derrick, Lakeland went 25-21 in two seasons. In 2023-24, the Hawks finished 14-11 and qualified for state for the first time since 2019, ending Sandpoint’s string of four straight 4A Region 1 titles. 

And now it’s Caulfield’s program. With momentum. 

“I’m so pumped,” she said. “Sometimes it can seem overwhelming, but once I step on the court with the girls, it’s exactly where I’m supposed to be.” 

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 208-664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at mnelke@cdapress.com. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @CdAPressSports.