Chipola starting with clean slate under first-year head coach

MARIANNA, Fla. ( WMBB ) — The Chipola Women’s basketball program has started a new chapter under Mitch Roll.

Rolls was introduced by Chipola athletic director, Jeff Johnson in May.

Before Chipola, Rolls was at Iowa Western Community College for one season. In that year, he led the Reivers to a 33-4 season, a national tournament appearance, and a top-five finish.

Only one player is returning from last season, so Rolls has been tasked with filling a full roster.

“It’s always a challenge,” Rolls said. “Getting hired in the summertime and having to recruit a full team. Didn’t have a lot of returners coming back, so we had a lot of work to do there.”

The roster is made of players from Florida, Georgia, the mid-west, and some international athletes.

Coach Rolls knows conference play will be a challenge, but is excited for his team to compete at the high level.

“It’s exciting just to be able to coach against good coaches like that and to play against good competition,” Rolls said. “It’s going to be good for the girls, too. It’s good film for them to get recruited. If you can play well against big teams, it’s going to help recruiting. If we can win those games or we can upset some teams, it’s going to help our ranking in our national tournament.”

The focus in the early months has been on development. Rolls said he is excited to get to work for the season.

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