Fox picked to coach Bravettes basketball

The Flathead Bravettes basketball program has a new coach and she is a familiar face: Kaylee Fox, a long-time assistant at the school.

Flathead activities director Bryce Wilson announced Fox had been hired by the school board in a release emailed on Tuesday.

“Kaylee has been a part of the program dating back to 2010,” Wilson wrote. “She will keep the program expectations high and plans to build a conscience winning program year after year.”

Fox, who is also head girls track coach at Flathead, takes over for Sam Tudor, who stepped down after three seasons and two State AA tournament Saturday night appearances.

“It was an easy decision (to apply),” Fox said. “I talked to Sam a little bit about it, and the program is in a good place and has a good foundation right now. It was an easy call. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do and the timing was good for my family.”

Fox, 37, has taught science at Flathead since 2010. The former Kaylee Shaw married Brian Fox, a teacher at Kalispell Middle School, in 2014. There were seasons at Flathead that she didn’t coach because she was having children — three in all. She guided the Bravettes junior varsity from 2010-13 and sophomores in 2015-16, before spending the last four seasons as freshman coach.

Before that the 2004 Fort Benton High School graduate played three years of women’s basketball at Carroll College and one at MSU-Northern. She was second-team All-Frontier for the Lights for the 2008-09 season.

The Bravettes return five juniors from a team that went 19-5 and lost in the State AA championship game: All-State forward Kennedy Moore, Harlie Roth, Celie Vandenbosch, Chloe Converse and Quin Tennison.

“I’m just excited about the future of the program because there are some good strong senior leaders, and they’re the kind of kids you build the program with,” Fox said. “And then there are some talented young kids coming in that you get to help develop. I’m excited to see how the program goes in the next few years.”

“She wants to develop our program at all levels and within the Flathead community,” Wilson said. “She talked about building relationships with our athletes, and our younger community athletes to help not only winnow but into the future.”

Fox is also pleased to have continuity on the staff: Hope Hedges (JV) and Chase Fairbank (sophomore) have been assistants since 2017-18 and will stay on.

“I’m thankful for that, that they’re still part of the program,” she said. “They do a really good job.”