Westmoreland girls basketball coach Cherie Abner resigns
Westmoreland girls head basketball coach Cherie Abner resigned on Friday, ending a 20-year run with the Lady Eagles.
Abner told her team on Thursday about her decision, which she said had been some time in the making.
“I think the kids knew,” Abner said. “I’ve done a pretty good job in the last three years since (assistant coach E.J.) Perry’s come on board of giving him a lot of duties. I’ve turned things over little by little every year and this year I let him do a lot, so I think the kids knew. And they know my family’s situation and things like that, so they were kind of bracing for it.”
Perry – who is also the school’s athletic director – is handling coaching responsibilities.
“I feel like I’ve put Coach Perry in a position to carry on the tradition, whether he’s in a head coaching role or as an assistant,” Abner said. “He’s been doing a lot anyway, so it won’t be much change for those kids. That was a big thing for me – to be able to put those kids in a good situation where they knew they wouldn’t have to go through too much change. He’s ready.”
Abner, who finishes her tenure at the school with 462 victories, never had a losing record in her run with the Lady Eagles. In all but three of those 20 seasons, Westmoreland won at least 20 games.
“For this program to be as successful as it has been for 20 years is pretty remarkable,” Abner said. “I credit that to all the players, for sure. The players make you look good or bad, and they made me look good.”
Abner led Westmoreland to three state tournament appearances – two in Class A (2003 and 2005) and one in Class AA (2015). The Lady Eagles fell in the quarterfinal round in each of those years.
“I think every year, we overachieved and got where we needed to be,” Abner said. “Being able to see those kids reach their dreams, play hard and learn those little life lessons along the way has been pretty special.”
This past season, Westmoreland went 25-5, falling 45-29 to eventual state runner-up Pearl-Cohn in the Region 5-AAA semifinals.
Abner is married to Mt. Juliet High School assistant football coach Greg Abner, and they live near Mt. Juliet with their two sons, Riggs and Cooper.
“The timing is never good, and it’s never a good time,” Abner said. “But it’s definitely time. I’ve been stretched the last three years with my son being in junior high and it’s going to be worse next year when he’s in high school. And I’ve got another one that’s going to be in junior high, so it’s been really hard and sacrificing, and next year would just be totally impossible. If I don’t feel like I can give it my all, then I need to step back.”
Abner’s teams were touted for their defensive effort, something she preached from day one.
“I credit the former administration for taking a chance on me when I was 24, straight out of college,” Abner said. “The current administration and the former administration supported me. If you don’t have that support, it’s hard to build a program, and they allowed me to do that. They also allowed me to get three good assistant coaches throughout my journey – David Vincent, Mike Potts and E.J. Perry. I’ve been real fortunate.”
Reach Chris Brooks at cbrooks@tennessean.com or 615-575-7118 and on Twitter @CBrooksTN.