![\"\"](\"http:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Emmitt-Williams-300x225.jpg\" "\\"Emmitt")
Emmitt Williams\u2019 voice all most cracks with pride and enthusiasm when he talks about his coach, Dawn McNew. The Lehigh Senior H.S. freshman described her as \u201cthe real deal\u201d. Demanding,\u00a0no-nonsense yet empathetic. And the reason the Lightning are 16-0.<\/p>\n
During McNew\u2019s four years as head coach, she has led the team to a 62-30 record and to the Elite 8 last season. Now, she and her players have their eyes set on winning a state championship this year.<\/p>\n
Williams and his teammates say McNew is like family. They all are. In fact, they repeat the word \u201cfamily\u201d in unison during huddles. McNew wants each player to feel like they have a support system. The team mutually provides as much to her.<\/p>\n
When McNew\u2019s late husband Dean passed away in July 2012, she considered not coaching anymore. The two coached together for several years, including before they moved to Florida in 2004.<\/p>\n
Dean\u00a0coached at Lehigh for nine years, including for the girls and boys basketball teams and was McNew\u2019s volunteer assistant coach. He was also her assistant coach when McNew led the Beech Grove High (Ind.) girls\u2019 basketball team to the 2003 state championship.<\/p>\n
The idea of coaching a boys\u2019 team wasn\u2019t on her radar until Lehigh\u2019s athletic director asked McNew, and she mulled over the idea with her husband.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe felt like I would be a positive influence and that if I didn\u2019t at least give it a shot, I might be doing the kids an injustice,\u201d McNew said. \u201cHe felt like I truly had something to offer.\u201d<\/p>\n
And now, she is proving him to be right.<\/p>\n
Williams, 6-foot-7 center and forward, said he doesn\u2019t dare disobey McNew. She did, after all, boot seven players from the varsity team when she accepted the head coach position four years ago. McNew said they \u201ctested the waters\u201d by showing up late to practices \u2013 or not showing up at all \u2013 and didn\u2019t support teammates.<\/p>\n
She made her team aware that irresponsible behavior wouldn\u2019t be tolerated under her direction \u2014 nor toward anyone they encountered off the court.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want them to know that no one else wants them to succeed more than I do,\u201d McNew said.<\/p>\n
Williams believes it. He said his attitude transformed from bad to grateful since the beginning of the season.<\/p>\n
\u201cI respect everything about her,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen I need somebody to be there, someone to talk to, she\u2019s there.\u201d<\/p>\n
And Dean was the same way.<\/p>\n
Former Lehigh basketball player BJ Edwards, a freshman guard at Jacksonville University (Fla.), described Dean as a true supporter who was often emotional for his players. McNew\u00a0described Dean as vivacious \u2014 a guy who lit up a room and befriended everyone in his presence.<\/p>\n
Edwards said after Dean passed away during his junior year, his teammates grew closer and rallied about McNew.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone just started taking it more seriously. We spent a lot of extra time with her in the gym and more time together in general,\u201d Edwards said. \u201cShe\u2019s a very strong individual to handle something like that as well as she did. I think it motivated her even more.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lehigh Senor H.S. with help the Lehigh Acres Kiwanis Club established the Dean McNew Athletic Scholarship Fund, $2000 each awarded to four senior student-athletes that embody Dean\u2019s spirit and influence.<\/p>\n
McNew said after Dean\u2019s passing, she realized she had to stay in the game for him and for her players.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat better way to make him proud than to continue to do what he wanted me to do and give my best to make Lehigh a well-respected program,\u201d McNew said. \u201cMy boys were right there to let me know that I still had my extended family.\u201d<\/p>\n
McNew attributes the team\u2019s brother-like bonds for their continued success and the high expectations they\u2019ve learned to set for themselves.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt isn\u2019t a big deal that the head of our basketball program is a woman, but more so what our boys have done to build this program into what it is,\u201d McNew said. \u201cIf you\u2019re a great coach, you\u2019re doing this for your kids in hopes of molding them into young men who can in turn be a positive impact.\u201d<\/p>\n
Added Williams, \u201cShe lives the way she wants us to be all the time. She respects everyone and helps anyone who needs it. She treats players with kindness, but with an iron fist when we need it. She tells us to live by two simple words: \u2018do right\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s getting us ready for life.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Emmitt Williams\u2019 voice all most cracks with pride and enthusiasm when he talks about his coach, Dawn McNew. The Lehigh Senior H.S. freshman described her as \u201cthe real deal\u201d. Demanding,\u00a0no-nonsense… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34533"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34533"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34533\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34533"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34533"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34533"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}