Mike Helmer, the coach who led the Wichita South girls to two 6A state tournaments in the past three years, has been named the new head women’s basketball coach at Butler Community College.

Helmer spent seven years at South, the first four as an assistant with the boy’s program and the past three as the girl’s head coach. In his three years, he compiled a record of 58-21, falling in the 6A state championship game in 2006 and losing in the quarterfinals of the 2007 tournament. This past season, South went 15-7 and lost to Goddard in the finals of the sub-state tournament.

“I’m extremely excited about the opportunity,” Helmer said. “It’s definitely been a dream of mine to get an opportunity to coach at the college level and Butler Community College has such a great reputation in athletics as a whole, that I think this is a perfect opportunity and a good fit.”

“We are excited that Mike is a part of our basketball program,” Athletic Director Todd Carter said. “We look forward to him bringing some much-needed leadership and stability to our women’s basketball program. He comes from a family with a history of basketball excellence in the state of Kansas.

“Mike understands the importance of recruiting locally, which is necessary for us to compete for conference and regional championships,” Carter said.

Before going to South, Helmer spent eight years managing a personal training facility in Lawrence. He also coached AAU basketball with the Kansas City Premier and worked with basketball camps at the University of Kansas.

Helmer is a native of Marion and played collegiate basketball at Pratt and then at Kansas Wesleyan.

Helmer and his wife, Kristina, have a newborn son, Anderson.

Jerise Freeman

Jerise Freeman enters her first season as the head assistant for the Butler Women'sBasketball program.

Freeman joins the Butler program after spending the past season as a graduate assistant at NCAA Division II Pittsburg State, where her duties include coordinating opponent scouting, monitoring academic progress and in-practice statistics, in addition to preseason conditioning and floor coaching duties.

Freeman is a native of Wichita, starring at Heights High School where she led the Falcons to back-to-back Kansas Class 6A state titles and a 45-5 combined record her final two seasons.

Freeman then played two years at Seward County Community College, helping the Saints to a pair of Region VI championships. She completed her collegiate eligbility at University of Pacific last year.

Freeman earned a bachelor's degree in in sociology with an emphasis in criminal justice from Pacific last May and also has earned a master's degree in physical education at Pitt State.

Tyson Kohls

Assistant Coach Tyson Kohls begins his second season on the Butler Women's Basketball coaching staff. Kohls is a former member of the Grizzly men's basketball team. He is originally from the El Dorado area, graduating from Bluestem High School in nearby Leon.