Riverside hires alum Monica Ezell to lead Lady Panthers basketball

Riverside High School turned to one of its own to lead the Lady Panthers, hiring Monica Ezell to take over the girls basketball program and bring back a coach who already knows the building, the community and the pressure that comes with the job.

Ezell returned with more than 20 years of experience coaching girls basketball. Her background includes an earlier stop at Riverside as an assistant basketball coach from 2006 to 2008, followed by middle school coaching jobs at Pin Oak Elementary and later Huntingdon Middle School. She also graduated from Riverside in 2002, giving the hire the feel of a homecoming as much as a personnel move.

For Riverside, the choice points to more than name recognition. Ezell inherits a program that already has leadership structure in place, with Brian Reid listed on the school’s athletics page as girls basketball and athletic director. The Lady Panthers’ athletic pages have also continued to post basketball updates, including tryout information for the 2024-25 school year, showing that the program remains active and part of the school’s broader sports pipeline.

The expectations are clear. Ezell said basketball should help shape discipline, teamwork, leadership and perseverance, and that message fits a program that will be judged on culture as much as wins. In a small district like Decatur County Schools, one coaching change can affect participation, morale and the direction of a team for several seasons, especially when the school is trying to keep athletes engaged and families invested.

Melinda Thompson, the district’s director of schools, responded positively to the hire and pointed to her previous work with Ezell at Parsons Elementary, where her commitment to students and coaching was already evident. That connection matters in Decatur County, where school sports often reflect the strength of community ties as much as the scoreboard.

Riverside High School sits at 4250 Hwy. 641 South in Decaturville, and the Lady Panthers now move into a new chapter with a coach who brings both local roots and a long coaching résumé. For players and families, the message from the hire is immediate: Riverside is betting on familiarity, standards and a program built to compete while staying grounded in the community that raised its new coach.