Michelle Wintermantel, an Ohio native who has spent the last nine years teaching at York High, has been named the Falcons’ new girls basketball head coach.
Wintermantel, who has also served as an assistant athletic director at York for the past five years, was a four-year player at Westlake High School who played two years at Mercyhurst Northeast Junior College in Pennsylvania while receiving her associate degree. She then transferred to Christopher Newport University with hopes of joining the Captains’ team as a walk-on but instead chose to work to pay off her education.
When CNU dropped her major, she returned to her native state of Ohio to finish up her bachelor’s degree in education at Cleveland State University before returning to Yorktown to teach at York High.
The upcoming season will be Wintermantel’s first as a head coach, although she coached at Yorktown Middle and served as a varsity assistant on both the girls basketball and soccer teams at York High for two years.
Wintermantel said when Coach John Hammons decided to step down, she knew immediately she wanted to be next in line.
“I’ve always wanted to coach the team [at York] ever since I’ve been here,” said Wintermantel, who has been a physical education teacher since 2005.
She hopes to revive the Falcons’ program that has struggled in recent years and is coming off a 2-20 season last winter.
She said she has already held a couple interest meetings and has been pleased with the turnout at the few open gym sessions she has hosted this summer.
“I’m very excited, of course,” said Wintermantel, who ran point guard during her playing days. “I couldn’t wait to jump right in and get started. I have a great assistant, Katie Pierce, who shares my structured and disciplined coaching style. It might take a year or two to get where we want to be, but I’m looking forward to the challenge.”
