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Sports

Familiar Face Will Lead Northwest Varsity Girls' Basketball

Girls' junior varsity basketball coach Todd Ostrom will coach the varsity team next season.

Northwest High School didn't need to look far for a new leader after the school’s varsity girls’ basketball coach stepped down.

Head junior varsity coach Todd Ostrom has been promoted to lead the girls’ team, school administrators announced late last week. The players found out during "special meetings" held by Principal Lance Dempsey and Athletics Director James Tapley.

"This was a tremendous honor that the entire administration gave me,” Ostrom told Patch. “I learned a tremendous amount from Coach Smith over the past year about running a successful program. I’m very excited about the opportunity and looking forward to a great year ahead."

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When both of its varsity basketball coaches stepped down earlier this spring, Northwest High School was left looking to immediately fill both the girls and boys head coaching positions, vacated by Rob Smith, who had coached the girls, and Jesse Irvin, who coached the boys. Northwest’s boys JV basketball coach Usman Jamil was chosen to lead the varsity boys.

Ostrom, who joined Northwest’s staff last year, played basketball at Salisbury University and teaches physical education at Capt. James E. Daly Elementary School. He is a 2004 graduate of Col. Zadok Magruder High School in Rockville, where he played basketball under Montgomery County Hall-of-Fame coach Dan Harwood.

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Ostrom will inherit a team that many consider to be one of the most talented in the county. The Jaguars ended the regular season on a 17-game win streak, captured the first division title for the school in more than a decade, and advanced to the regional finals before being eliminated by eventual state champion Gaithersburg.

He said wants to continue the team’s momentum when he takes the helm.

"We're going to continue to work hard on execution and playing hard on both ends of the floor," he said. "We’re definitely going to work hard and have fun. We’re going to be an exciting team to watch."

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