Danlee Duncan, the former cheerleader, baseball player and football player is enjoying being the head cheer coach at Memorial High School. He teaches algebra 1 and geometry and is also certified in physical education.
Coming to Memorial, Duncan has a great mindset about bringing fun, positive energy to the new school. His goal is to help foster school spirit and help the cheer program become an ambassador for the school while having a great time.
The Memorial Messenger talked with Duncan about his overall experience at Memorial, balancing coaching at Memorial and Midwestern State and what his plans are for the future.
Q: What were you doing before you become a teacher/coach?
A: Before I actually became a coach, I cheered at Midwestern. That’s kind of what I’ve done for the last four years while at college. Before then I was playing baseball, playing football, traveling doing stuff like that.
Q: What’s your goal as the cheer coach?
A: At Memorial my goal as the cheer coach is to help the program become an ambassador for the school, to help foster school spirit get some excitement going and bring some fun, positive energy and a great mindset to Memorial High School, like the game, pep rallies, just the school in general.
Q: How have you gotten to know the kids in just a few months?
A: One thing I try to do is call them by their name every day, and I’m coming from a small school where I had classes of 8-14 kids. So it can be a little difficult learning everyone’s name. The main thing is to just stay on top of it, to say names every day so it gets drilled into my mind. But also kind of observing them, how they act in class, how they act during practice just so I can get a better understanding of not just who they are, but how they are as a student. What works best for them, what pushes them the most at practice and in the classroom.
Q: How do you manage to balance out your schedule at Memorial and MSU?
A: I kind of just bounce back and forth throughout the day. I do spend a majority of my day here at Memorial. A lot of it comes back on to my assistant coach and the captains I have at MSU. So if there’s ever anything I need, I can just shoot them a text, like “Hey, can you run by the warehouse and pick up a package, can you do this, can you do that?” We try to be very, very organized so practices are planned about a week, two weeks in advance. Of course, they’ll change depending on what we need to work on. We send out monthly calendars just so we have an idea of what to expect the entire month. Where games are going to be, how practices are going to look like, what to expect moving forward.
Q: What’s your experience for your first time being a cheer coach?
A: It’s been a lot of fun. It’s a huge change because in Quanah, I was our varsity defensive backs and wide receivers coach, our varsity guards basketball coach and I was head softball. Coming to Memorial, it’s been a load off because I get to focus on cheer not only at Memorial but also MSU. So I have more time to be sports specific, more time to focus on the kids, more time to identify where the issues lie and come up with ways to fix it. In the classroom, in practice, wherever it needs to be.
Q: What do you think of the new schools?
A: Honestly, I love the new schools. I think it’s something that’s going to be good for Wichita Falls. Even though not everybody was the biggest fan of it at the time, because you’re tearing down the old traditions. There’s no more Rider High School, no more Wichita Falls High School, no more Hirschi High School and it’s now just Memorial and Legacy. From an outside perspective, I think it’s something that’s fantastic. I mean it helps us kind of connect better. Yes, there’s always going to be that rivalry. Yes, there’s always going to be not necessarily beef, but competition between the two schools, but this just helps isolate it and connect the entire Wichita Falls. Especially on rivalry week when we play Legacy, you get the entire town of Wichita Falls out there, not just two-thirds of it.
Q: What made you want to become a teacher/coach?
A: When I was in high school, I had this coach that really opened me up to wanting to be a coach. When you walked into his classroom, you knew that he was one of those guys that you could talk to. Like if you had any issues, he was there for you. In practice, he was a younger coach, so he’d go out there and he’d practice with us if it was basketball, baseball, even football. Whatever it was, if we needed a position, he was willing to step in and fill it. And so, I bonded with him over that experience, and that’s kind of what I wanted to do. I’m a young guy I’d like to say I’m still pretty athletic, so if there’s ever a time when I need to step in for a practice, or fill in a spot, that’s something I’m willing to do to keep the team moving. It also gives me an extra connection to kind of bond with these kids, help relate to them on a more personal level so I can understand what they’re going through. I can understand what they need whether it’s in the classroom, at home or at practice. That’s really what I want to do. I want to change the lives of the students as the coach changed my life. That’s my biggest take out of it is these students are our future. The future of our world, of our nation. It’s important for us to kind of strive to influence them in the right direction to build those connections and to lead them up to be successful.
Q: What’s the biggest challenge as a coach?
A: I would have to say the biggest challenge is probably the initial start-up for organizing things. It can be time, especially when the new season is about to come in and you get a whole new schedule. You’ll get a whole new basketball schedule or a whole new softball schedule because it might not be finalized yet, so that kind of adds on to everything you’ve already been planning. That’s really the biggest struggle is that organization aspect. But I will say, Memorial has done an amazing job at communicating with everybody. I think a majority of the coaches are on the same page, schedule-wise. I think it’s just a fantastic staff that’s willing to help each other out.
