A familiar face on the Evanston High School courts has been tapped to take over the Lady Devils hoops program, following the release of longtime head coach Tera Lawlar at the end of the 2024 season.

Erin Watsabaugh — known as Erin Kirby during her Lady Devils career — was named head coach of the Lady Devils earlier this month. Activities Director Bubba O’Neill said a number of qualified candidates applied, but Watsabaugh’s coaching experience — as well as her connection to the community — made her the logical choice.

“Obviously, Erin has great credentials,” O’Neill said. “She’s one of ours. Her accolades at the University of Wyoming and then on the professional tour, it just made it a no-brainer. Along with seeing her coach our kids over the past couple years, she’s done a great job, so we knew it was going to be the right choice. We had some great interviews with the candidates we had. It was fantastic. We had four that we interviewed that all did a great job at those interviews. Erin was just a little bit above the rest. She’s a great coach for us.”

Watsabaugh has been coaching volleyball at EHS for several years, primarily as coach of the freshmen team. Reluctant at first to apply, Watsabaughl finally put her name in for consideration after consulting with family and her fellow coaches, including Lawlar, whom she had played for in high school.

“Just talking to Tera, and encouragement from other people, I obviously care about the program and the girls,” Watsabaugh said. “I’ve been involved in coaching since I moved back, and ultimately I decided that I cared about the team, and I want to give back to the community and the program that gave to me, so that’s why I decided to apply.”

Watsabaugh was a three-sport standout at EHS, earning All-Conference and All-State honors in volleyball, basketball and track. She took her talents to the University of Wyoming following graduation, where she excelled both on the volleyball court and the track, where she competed in the 400 hurdles. After a Hall of Fame career for the Cowgirls (she was inducted into the UW Hall of Fame in 2022), she played professional volleyball in Sweden before finally making her way back to Evanston.

“I did volleyball, basketball and track at EHS, and then I got recruited to a couple different places,” Watsabaugh explained. “I wanted to do volleyball and track in college — that was a goal of mine — so UW was one of the schools that offered that. I had a  pretty successful career there, and then had the opportunity to go play professionally in Europe for a season. I went to Sweden, played there for a full season, then came back and went to grad school to finish up my academic career, then came back to Evanston.”

Watsabaugh’s list of accomplishments at UW are beyond impressive: As a middle blocker, she earned All-Mountain West Conference honors four times, and was named Player of the Week four times during her career. She holds the UW career records for blocks and sets-played and is second in hitting percentage. She had a single-season record-setting 225 blocks in 2013, leading the Mountain West Conference and second in the nation.

In track, Watsabaugh was the Mountain West 400 meter hurdles champion as a freshman.  Over her career, she earned all-Conference honors in the Indoor 4x400 relay, the outdoor 400 meter hurdles (twice), the indoor 400 meter hurdles, and the outdoor 4x400 meter relay (twice). She holds nine Top-10 marks in the UW record books.

Watsabaugh and her husband Rob — a P.E. teacher and the head boys’ basketball coach at EHS — returned to Evanston in 2019, where she began her coaching career, first at the middle school ranks, then as part of coach Lawlar’s staff at EHS.

Watsabaugh said Lawlar encouraged in her a love of playing — and coaching — the sport of volleyball. Lawlar’s support was helpful in Watsabaugh’s decision to accept the position.

“I’ve known Tera for years — I remember her way back in middle school, when she would come there to do camps,” Watsabaugh explained. “My relationship with her continued once I was in high school, and she was obviously a big support for me throughout my college career. As soon as I came back to Evanston she was welcoming me back with open arms to be a part of the program. I just learned a lot from her. Just seeing how much she’s impacted the girls and the program over the years, obviously I wanted to be able to do that, as well. Seeing someone else go through it for as long as she has was helpful for me. And how she impacted me and my career, I was able to see her do that for other girls, as well.”

Asked what Watsabaugh brings to the table in terms of coaching, O’Neill said the answer is simple.

“What I really like — and this is what I say about any coach — is they’ve got to have passion,” O’Neill said. “Erin has an amazing passion for the game of volleyball. She cares about the kids.They mean something to her, because they’re like her — they’re from Evanston.They’re her kids. The caring, the passion, the dedication — she wants the program to be great. She was part of a great program here at Evanston, and she wants the program to be great.”

O’Neill said Watsabaugh also has unbelievable knowledge about the game of volleyball; he credits her coaches at all points in her career for instilling that knowledge.

“Erin was coached not only well at Evanston, but she was coached well at the University of Wyoming and overseas,” he said. “She has a wealth of knowledge. But first and foremost is the passion. Number two, we want our coaches to care about kids, and it’s obvious she does.”

Asked what she’s looking forward to the most about her new opportunity, Watsabaugh said having a positive influence — on and off the court —  on the girls playing for her.

“The thing I’m most looking forward to is just trying to develop these young girls into confident and resilient young women, who are successful in any area of their lives,” she said. “I want them to feel valued and empowered, and that they can be encouraged to grow as athletes and human beings. I’m excited to be able to hopefully take on that role, and help them reach those goals – not just athletically, but in their lives.”