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Slagus returns home as Belle Vernon basketball coach

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Belle Vernon has turned to one of its own in attempt to get the Leopards past the first round of the WPIAL girls basketball playoffs.

Kaitlyn Slagus, a former standout player for Belle Vernon and at Bucknell University, was hired Monday night as the Leopards’ girls basketball coach.

Slagus succeeds Ronnie Drennen, who resigned last month after two seasons as the Leopards’ coach. He had a 30-16 overall record that included a 19-9 mark in section games. The Leopards lost in the first round of the WPIAL Class 4A playoffs in each of the last two seasons.

After a stellar college career that ended with the 2018-19 season, Slagus played professionally in Ireland, finishing her season in March while also earning her master’s degree there through the Victory Scholarships program from the Sport Changes Life Foundation.

After the season, Slagus knew coaching is what she wanted to do, though she never expected to be the head coach at Belle Vernon so quickly.

“After all the nagging injuries I had, I knew coaching was the next step for me,” Slagus said. “I knew I wanted to stay involved in the game because it has given me so many opportunities. I thought I might have to start out as an assistant coach somewhere, but the Belle Vernon job opened up and that was just awesome.”

Slagus has some young talent to work with at Belle Vernon, which finished 9-5 and in third place in Section 3 of Class 4A last season. The Leopards were 16-7 overall.

“I wouldn’t say this is a complete rebuild,” Slagus admitted. “Coach Drennen left the girls in a good place.

“Being the coach at Belle Vernon means everything to me. I never thought I’d have the opportunity.”

Slagus said she wants to install and uptempo offense. The Leopards averaged only 49.9 points per game last season.

“I want to play fast,” Slagus said. “After playing in college and professionally, where the shot clock is only 24 seconds, you like to play fast.”

She also plans to stress skill development with her players.

“I know that is important. If you don’t have the basics down,” she said, “you can’t improve.”

At Bucknell, Slagus was one of the top players on two Patriot League championship teams and was a three-time all-conference selection. She was a first-team pick after averaging 13.0 points and 7.2 rebounds per game as a senior in 2019. She went on to be the Patriot League Tournament MVP after leading the Bison to their second championship in three years.

Slagus graduated as Bucknell’s all-time rebounding leader with 949. She also ranked second all-time in blocked shots (150), sixth in three-pointers (134) and seventh in points (1.487). Slagus was a 10-time Patriot League Player of the Week.

At Belle Vernon, Slagus played four years under former coach Lisa Fairman and scored 1,360 career points and grabbed 1,020 rebounds. She holds the school’s single-game record for points (38) and rebounds (27).

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