Bishop LeBlond girls’ basketball hires new head coach; takes over for Jackie Steltenpohl

By Calvin Silvers

We’re still months away from the 2024-25 high school girls’ basketball season, but that doesn’t mean offseason tasks weren’t completed as early as possible. For Bishop LeBlond, there was a large task at hand, and it involved finding a replacement for former LeBlond girls’ basketball coach, Jackie Steltenpohl.

The search led to David Lamble, who began coaching over 10 years ago at LeBlond’s catholic school rival, St. Pius X in Kansas City, Missouri.

“There’s a lot to live up to with this group,” Lamble said. “You know, a lot of success over the last couple of years, and Coach Jackie the last couple of years has really, you know, laid the groundwork for what the team is supposed to be.”

Lamble is taking over a program formerly led by Steltenpohl since the 2017-18 season. Last season, the team finished 17-10 overall, finishing in second place in the Class 3 District 15 Tournament.

LeBlond’s success in girls’ basketball began to take off during the 2020-21 season, when the team captured a Class 2 District 16 Championship, a feat they would accomplish again in the 2021-22 season and 2022-23 season. That 2022-23 season was more than just a district championship, as the team made it to the Class 2 State Championship contest, but lost 55-36 to Tipton.

“I definitely think there’s pressure whenever you take over something new,” Lamble said. “You kind of have to shut out the noise and again, trust what we’re going to do is going to be the right thing and the culture that we’re going to instill is going to be the right thing. Hopefully, again, have that success, and continue to have that success.”

Entering his fourth year at Bishop LeBlond High School, Lamble has experience coaching girls at the high school level, as he’s been the main man for the Golden Eagle girls’ golf team.

There’s more to the resume, coaching high school girls’ soccer with Todd Ashby at St. Pius X and working alongside Chad Wright for boys’ basketball. Despite the Golden Eagles coming off a female coach, Lamble still believes he’ll be able to connect with the team and help them grow.

“Students at this level are going to learn, I mean, they’re going to learn what you teach them and how you teach them,” Lamble said. “I guess I would have to talk to the girls and say, ‘you know, what do you expect out of me versus what you expected in the past,’ and so I think what’s going to help that maybe too, is, again, a lot of new faces.”

With the handful of coaching experience gathered through the last decade-plus, Lamble has a certain coaching style, one that will work the girls in practice so games can come at a more natural pace.

“I’m more of that, like not really hard knocks, but you got to be as tough as you are practice,” Lamble said. “You know that that’s what translates to game time, actually, you know, if it’s tougher in practice, games should actually be much easier.”

While the Golden Eagles saw seniors graduate which was crucial in the 2022-23 state playoff run, Lamble expects a handful of new girls to test their luck on the team. His ideal starting five would be a group that doesn’t specialize in one aspect of the game but can do all the small things correctly.

“If they just start in high school, to understand like there’s so much more to it than just, you know, the awesome stat line or whatever,” Lamble said. “Some of the like most successful players, you know, you talk about glue guys and all that stuff.”

Bishop LeBlond will begin their season with the Mound City Invitational Tournament on December 2nd.