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Head Girls Basketball Coach Robyn McCoart
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Coach Teresa Dunn
Carroll Head Volleyball Coach Teresa Dunn
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Robyn McCoart
Robyn McCoart, now head coach of the girls basketball team, was once a Lady Dragon herself.
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Teresa Dunn (far left) coached Carroll teams in 2016 before moving to Midlothian ISD and eventually returning to the Lady Dragons.
The saying goes, “Once a Dragon, always a Dragon.” For two Carroll coaches, the saying is almost eerily true, as they were Dragons, left CISD and ended up right back here in Southlake.
And this isn’t even a story about Riley Dodge. Robyn McCoart is wrapping up her first season as the head coach of Lady Dragons basketball, but green has been a part of her wardrobe since she was a kid. She went all the way through CISD, graduating in 1998.
Teresa Dunn, coaching Lady Dragons Volleyball for the first time as head coach, has familiar faces on her team. That’s because she was with them less than two years ago as an assistant coach.
Though coaching vastly different sports, the two new head coaches have a similar approach: Instill values that their players will carry with them long after they play their last game.
“I love impacting young women by using the game of basketball,” McCoart says. “Basketball is a way to teach young ladies about life, adversity, success and decision-making. So that's why I came back more than anything. I love basketball, but more than that I just love working with young women.”
Dunn echoes this sentiment.
“Obviously, you always want to say your top goal is winning a state championship,” she says. “But along with teaching them volleyball, I want to teach them to be better people. I want them to grow in a way – in their game, school and personal life – that when they graduate, they are better people.”
Both coaches would quickly agree that they want their players to succeed on their respective courts. And both coaches are well-equipped to make that happen. However, Dunn and McCoart know that many of the lessons their players learn through the sport can easily be translated to everyday life. That’s a big part of what they’re hoping to make happen.
For McCoart, her position at Carroll isn’t just a job, it’s a calling. From kindergarten through senior year, she was always a Dragon. Her mom actually taught at Johnson Elementary for 40 years. Now, McCoart has three sons in CISD, with another soon to join. (Her youngest is currently in preschool). For her, things have truly come full circle.
Upon graduating from Carroll Senior High in 1998, McCoart played basketball at Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia, Arkansas. There, she played all four years of college and met her now-husband, a collegiate baseball player at the time.
McCoart went on to serve as an assistant coach at Colleyville Heritage, working with the girls’ basketball, girls’ volleyball and cross country teams until 2007.
“Then, I started having kids and stayed home for eight to 10 years,” McCoart says. “I taught preschool, I coached a lot of select teams and I did private lessons during that time. I coached all of my boys' teams.”
Last year, she was happily working in the business sector when the coaching position became available. McCoart states the job opening at Carroll was the only one that would make her return to the basketball scene.
“I feel like it's a calling to do this job,” she explains. “It's a huge responsibility and parents are entrusting their kids to you every day. I feel that responsibility – especially now that I'm a mom – to love on these kids and influence them for the greater good.”
Carroll ISD’s Executive Director of Athletics Steve Keasler knows the value of having a former Dragon on staff.
“It has been a privilege to watch her go from being a player to a coach in the Lady Dragon Basketball program,” he says. “The impact that she is having on this program by establishing a solid foundation of team, love, caring and accountability is amazing to watch! We are very lucky to have her working with our girls and protecting the tradition that she help build.”
The transition to head coach came at a particularly turbulent time for the McCoart family. In 2009, her husband was first diagnosed with brain cancer. The family went through a long journey of surgery, followed by chemotherapy when the cancer returned in 2012. Even after that, it returned again. This January, he had brain surgery, and he is now in recovery. In the midst of it all, McCoart knows she is where she needs to be.
“God always gives you exactly what you need to get through anything and everything,” she says. “If you're answering a calling from the Lord then you can't go wrong. When you're doing something in your own flesh, then you can be concerned. If you know it's something you're called to, then you just have to step out in obedience.”
Her resilience and fighting spirit is something she partly attributes to lessons she learned as a Lady Dragon. Lessons she intends to pass on to her players.
“In basketball, you learn how to deal with things not always going your way,” McCoart says. “You learn how to deal with losses and success. So then when major life events happen, you don’t give up...you fight!”
With the Lady Dragons now heading to the playoffs for the first time in four years, despite key player Rachel Seyler being sidelined by an injury, it’s obvious that McCoart’s message of pressing through isn’t falling on deaf ears.
“Our team goal was to make the playoffs,” she says. “None of the girls I’m coaching have ever made it to the playoffs. We're going to keep fighting to the finish.”
Hitting The Ground Running
While new head volleyball coach Teresa Dunn never attended Carroll schools, she is still very much a returning Dragon. She joined Lady Dragon Volleyball as in assistant varsity coach in 2016. From there, she accepted a head coaching position at Midlothian High School. Despite incredible success there – she took the Lady Panthers to the third round of playoffs – it didn’t take her long to return.
“When I left to take the head job at Midlothian, something in my heart was missing,” Dunn explains. “Even as an assistant at Southlake, it's a totally different world. I grew so much in my personal and professional world, and I worked with amazing people at Carroll. I was so excited to get the opportunity to come back.”
Dunn was raised in Arlington and grew up playing Carroll in the playoffs or preseason. She recalls the Lady Dragons always being a powerhouse and, she admits, a little intimidating. Upon graduating, she attended West Texas A&M University where she played volleyball all four years. During that time, she made four regional finals, two final fours and one national championship appearance in postseason play.
From there, she coached at Tascosa High School in Amarillo. Feeling far from family and seeing a good opportunity to coach at Flower Mound Marcus, Dunn returned to the Metroplex. She served there as assistant varsity coach for four years before she accepted the job under Ryan Mitchell at Carroll. Despite being presented with a few head coach opportunities, Dunn knew that becoming a Dragon was the better option.
“Ryan [Mitchell] said, 'Why don't you come and work under me, we'll grow you and in a few years you can go off,’” she recalls. “I knew that this was going to be the best opportunity to learn from Coach Mitchell in volleyball, and I was also coaching in soccer. They had built two very great programs and I was excited to get to learn under them.”
Upon returning to Carroll, this time as head volleyball coach, Dunn says she hit the ground running.
“I wanted to implement a positive culture in which the kids would flourish,” she says. “They really bought in – especially the seniors. We came up with six words that we felt that our programs could live by. Now, we've started to add on words.”
These words include values such as leadership, resiliency, trust and compassion. Dunn started to build this foundation and worked to select these words by asking her players one key question: “What does it look like to play for the best high school volleyball team in the country?"
While the answers initially ranged from taking a charter bus to games to other things out of the team’s control, Dunn had the players scale their answers back to attainable qualities. Commitment. Trust. It turns out that six words weren’t enough, so the team is now focusing on 12. When talking about Dunn, Keasler also notes that the new coach’s goals extend past the court.
“Coach Dunn comes to Carroll ISD with the experience of the expectations it takes to be a part of the Lady Dragon Volleyball program,” Keasler says. “She has worked to develop a good plan that will enhance our volleyball program in hopes to bring home a State Championship. Coach Dunn and her staff are and have been a good positive role model for our young ladies.”
Dunn was able to take the Lady Dragons to the regional finals and came within one win of going to the state tournament for the first time since 2013. They were the No. 2 seed out of the 5-6A District but battled a few injuries in post- district play. While the team is graduating a lot of seniors this year, Dunn is excited for what is to come.
“The varsity is going to look a lot different next year,” she says. “There will be quite a few new faces. But the juniors look promising and they're doing all of the things that natural-born leaders should do."