CLAREMONT — Steve Condon was used to playing the nice assistant on the bench — the person players would talk to during games if they didn’t want to talk with the head coach.
But this year, he is the head coach, with his wife, Ivy, shifting to the assistant role.
Ivy Condon, who had led the Stevens High girls basketball team for the previous eight years, gave birth to the couple’s first child, a daughter named Monroe, on Aug. 24. So the Condons are essentially switching jobs this season to give Ivy more time at home to care for the baby.
Steve had been the JV head coach and an assistant with the varsity squad, but the Cardinals’ 64-7 win over InterLakes on Dec. 10 was his first game leading the varsity team.
“This was a very difficult decision,” he said. “We made it together as a family. I’m very grateful for the opportunity and I’m excited to get my feet wet in the coaching world.”
Both Steve and Ivy were born and raised in Claremont and graduated from Stevens. Ivy’s father, Carl Desilets, was the head varsity coach until 2012. Ross Dole, who now coaches at Newport, succeeded him before Ivy took over in 2014, and Steve has been by her side ever since.
Desilets has stayed involved with the program, first as the coach at Claremont Middle School and now stepping in to replace Steve as the JV coach. Ivy’s sister, Shea Desilets, took their father’s place with the middle school team.
Ivy found out she was pregnant last December and told the team toward the end of the season. Stevens was limited to just five regular season games due to COVID-19 before losing in the second round of the NHIAA Division III playoffs to Fall Mountain. She still intended to be head coach this year after 12 weeks of maternity leave, but when Monroe struggled to take a bottle, Ivy decided to take on a more limited role.
“I coached this summer, right up until the day before I had (Monroe),” she said. “Games that are an hour and a half, two hours away, I knew that was not going to be realistic for me. I could have said I’m going to stay on and coach every home game and close away games, but I wanted to be fair to the girls and I wanted there to be consistency.”
Steve said the transition has been easy because of his familiarity with the team. The Cardinals only had one senior last year, so the group is mostly intact as it tries to build on its playoff appearance from a season ago.
Ivy Condon said the pair has complementary coaching styles — she is fascinated by defense while Steve is more interested in offense.
“Ivy let her assistants have a lot of say during games and during practices, and she listened to their input,” athletic director Doug Beaupre said. “Steve is already somebody who knows the strengths and weaknesses of the players, so things have gone very smooth.”
Stevens will rely on seniors Molly Derosier, Jenna Bonneau and Zahna Rice this season, Steve Condon said, but it was the younger Cardinals leading the way in their season-opening win. Junior Alyssa Paquette paced Stevens with 14 points, sophomore Kiley Bundy had 10 and junior Joar Figal, an exchange student from Spain, added 11. InterLakes did not score a point in the first half.
Many of the players have known both coaches since well before high school, having played with the Claremont Lady Hornets, the AAU team the Condons started.
“A lot of the girls who are juniors and seniors now were our first group,” Steve Condon said. “It’s fun to see it come full circle. It’s definitely an advantage to come in and already have some relationships and an understanding of where we’ve been and where we hope to get to.”
Rice went to middle school in Newport but joined the Stevens JV team in eighth grade and has been on varsity since her freshman year. She said the team has learned different plays this season to set up more outside shots, but overall not much has changed.
“Having both of them in the program definitely helps all the players individually,” Rice said. “All of us have had Steve or Ivy or Ivy’s dad, so we have the whole family with us.”
Ivy Condon will still be at practices and most games, only staying home for the longer trips. She said several players got gifts for Monroe over the summer, and the team has handled the transition well. Depending on Monroe’s mood, the baby will be a frequent presence behind the Cardinals’ bench.
The Condons have not yet made a decision on whether Ivy will return to the head coaching position next year, but she has made sure to emphasize to the team that Steve is in charge this year.
“It’s that fine line of making sure we explained to the girls that Steve is the head coach and what he says goes,” Ivy said. “It’s definitely not easy having been a head coach in the past, but it is a different perspective to be able to sit back sometimes and watch.”
Benjamin Rosenberg can be reached at brosenberg@vnews.com or 603-727-3302.