Justin Ebert has served in several roles over the years at Salina South High School. Ebert has spent the last eight years as the track and field head coach. For six seasons, he was the offensive coordinator for South football. In basketball, Ebert was an assistant for the boys and girls programs for 13 seasons.

Add girls basketball head coach to the list.

Ebert was approved by the USD 305 Board of Education to be the next leader of the girls basketball program Tuesday evening. Ebert replaces Ryan Stuart, who accepted an offer to be the new assistant principal at Salina South High School after eight years as head coach.

“I am incredibly honored and excited to be able to take over the girls program next season,” Ebert said. “I have been very fortunate to work for some amazing people and coaches in my 13 years at South High and have enjoyed learning as much as possible from those coaches. As an alumni and Salina native, the community of Salina has always been special and I am thrilled to be able to be in the position to lead our girls team.”

Before joining the girls basketball coaching staff, Ebert was an assistant with the boys program for nine seasons. During Ebert’s fourth season on the girls side, the Lady Cougars went 10-12, the first double-digit win season since 2012-13. Salina South fell to Salina Central 48-45 in the Class 5A sub-state championship.

“It’s nice to be able to provide our program with some familiarity and continuity as we look to build on the positive momentum that Coach Stuart developed the past eight seasons,” Ebert said. “As a program we have a lot of experienced players returning and a great staff in place with Daniel Colton and Charlie Lynn.”

Salina South will miss the senior leadership of Lizzy Franco and Mariah Janda. However, the Cougars will bring back three starting guards and a solid sophomore class for 2021-22.

*Photo by Lexi Doherty*