Former Southside player taking over as head girls basketball coach at Searcy

As the daughter of a longtime basketball coach, Calli De Los Santos naturally seemed destined to follow in her mother’s footsteps. Though she took a detour while in college, De Los Santos was swayed back by the allure of coaching. And now, she’ll get the opportunity to lead her own program.

De Los Santos, who played at Southside under her mother, Hall of Fame coach Sherry White, was recently named the head girls coach at Class 5A Searcy. For the past four seasons, De Los Santos was an assistant at Conway, a powerhouse Class 6A program.

“I absolutely fell in love with the game and watching (her mother) coach, but I did everything I could to try and pursue a different career,” De Los Santos said. “I got my undergraduate degree in psychology and I volunteer coached with my mom in Russellville in the fall and spring of 2017 and 2018. And that’s when I knew that I couldn’t run from it anymore. Just getting to be around those kids and share my love of the game with them was something that I could see myself doing forever.”

Then known as Calli White, De Los Santos played point guard for Sherry White at Southside from 2010-13.

“I got to play for my mom, which was a really amazing experience,” De Los Santos said. “It definitely came with its ups and downs, but I wouldn’t have asked for a better or different coach to coach my high school career.”

And now, De Los Santos gets to do what her mom has done for a number of years, serve as the head high school varsity coach. As an added bonus, De Los Santos’ husband, Gavin, also landed a coaching job in Searcy. He was recently hired as the offensive line coach for the football team at Harding University, the defending NCAA Division II runners-up. De Los Santos is equally enthused about taking over at Searcy.

“When I think about the Searcy girls basketball program, I truly see us competing for a state championship in the years to come,” she said. “But, it is so much more than winning, it’s creating something that these girls want to come back to when they’re moms and wives, and just being proud to show off where they came from in the program that they helped build.”

In addition, De Los Santos will be relying on the expertise she learned not only from her mother but also Ashley Hutchcraft, Conway’s head coach.

“You know my mom was just mom to me for a really long time, and then when I started getting older and seeing all of her accomplishments as a coach, it just made me even more proud to be her daughter,” Calli said. “She has truly built a legacy everywhere she has gone, and I just pray that I can be half the coach and half the mom that she is and was to me. She has taught me so much, but the main thing is that she can win doing it the right way and the winning record goes a long way when you do it the right way.

“And being under Coach Hutchcraft has taught me more about who I want to be as a coach then I could’ve ever imagined. Her servant leadership, and her heart for these kids is unlike anything I’ve ever seen.”

Now, De Los Santos wants to make an equal impact after taking over at Searcy. That includes the possibility of coaching her daughter.

“I see my daughter growing up and playing basketball for me just like I did for my mom, and both of my kids growing up around this program and I just couldn’t be more proud to call myself a Searcy Lady Lion.”