Nate Frese elevated to head girls’ basketball coach at Iowa City West

IOWA CITY — Nate Frese’s first comment as head girls’ basketball coach at Iowa City West was the following:

“I bet you want to hear about all the things I’m going to overhaul, don’t you?”

He was kidding.

Frese, 48, was named Friday morning, pending board approval. He spent the last three seasons as B.J. Mayer’s assistant, the 20 years before that on Steve Bergman’s staff on the boys’ side.

“I want to maintain what B.J. has done,” Frese said. “I have big shoes to fill. I don’t envision changing a lot; our styles are pretty similar.”

Mayer resigned in June when he was named as West’s athletics director.

“I am excited to have Nate take over the girls’ program after serving as an assistant in many capacities,” Mayer said in a release. “He is very knowledgeable about the game of basketball, knows the kids in the program, and is familiar with West High School and the basketball program.

“Nate has been an integral part of the success the past three years and will now have the opportunity to share more of his leadership skills as the head coach.”

West returns 73 percent of its scoring from a team that finished 19-4 last year, led by seniors Meena Tate (a recent Dartmouth College commit) and Anna Prouty.

“Our last four postseason losses have come against CIML teams, and I want us to be able to challenge those teams,” Frese said. “I want the girls to have valuable experiences in wins and losses, and in building character.”

An English teacher at West, Nate and his wife Nikki have a daughter, Ava, who will be a freshman.

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