Cook County girls basketball program pauses varsity play again

For the second time in three years, Cook County High School is without a girls varsity basketball team.

Despite a roster that included eight middle school players and eight high school students, school officials said the team lacked the experience needed to compete for a full season at the varsity level.

“We have seven seventh graders out right now, and it’s great,” said Steven Anderson, Cook County High School Athletic Director, “but I don’t want them to compete in a varsity level with our ninth- through 12th-graders. That would be enough to feel the team, but that’s not right for their skill set at this time.”

The girls basketball program has faced ongoing challenges in recent years, including multiple head coaching changes and a lack of continuity.

Jed Smith, the current junior high girls basketball coach is trying to change that.  Smith is familiar with success on the court, having played on Cook County’s 2002 boys basketball team that advanced to the state tournament.

“My dad actually started coaching in this county in, like, ’93. He started with my younger sisters,” Smith told WTIP.  “Then when I was a senior, I actually got to coach the fifth and sixth grade. ”

Smith later stepped away from basketball but returned to coach his nephews. As his daughter has gotten older, he has shifted his focus to the girls program.

According to Anderson, Cook County is not alone in struggling to field girls basketball teams, with participation declining across parts of the Northland.

“This lower participation in girls basketball just kind of really ends up being a question that we’re all asking when we’re at our AD meetings,” Anderson said. “We don’t really have an answer.”

Cook County has not seen similar declines in other girls sports, and Anderson said youth girls basketball participation remains strong, offering hope for rebuilding the program.

“We’re really looking forward to once that seventh-grade group of gals gets up to be ninth graders, that’s kind of when we’re projecting a lot to be ready to play another varsity season,” Anderson said.

Smith said rebuilding a program takes more than numbers, emphasizing enthusiasm from players and support from the community.

“I try to tell them, when you go out on the court, you want every parent there, you want every third grader in the gym to want to be part of the program,” Smith told WTIP. “So that’s having fun, that’s smiling, that’s enjoying what you do, but that success just doesn’t come. So it takes work. It takes work and practice, and it takes pushing yourself every day.”

WTIP spoke with Steven Anderson and Jed Smith about the girls basketball program.  You can hear more of that conversation in the audio story below.

Josh Hinke January 28, 2026