Harvard-Westlake women’s basketball player Bella Spencer was on the beach when she found out head coach Melissa Hearlihy was retiring.

The team was on a Zoom call in mid-summer and the discussion turned to when state championship rings were to be handed out. Suddenly, Hearlihy told her players that she had graduated.

“We’re like, ‘Huh? She says, ‘I graduated high school,'” said Spencer, a senior. “We thought she had gone back to school. I didn’t think it was something people did, but we started clapping. And then she said to me, “No guys, you don’t understand. I retired.’

Hearlihy’s sudden departure, which began with a tearful farewell to his team, struck a chord within the school as a whole, but the administration quickly had to move forward in its search for a new head coach. He announced on August 22 that Alex Nailes, assistant coach of the men’s basketball team, would take over as interim girls head coach.

“I have fun, I enjoy every day with them,” Nailes said. “From day one to today, seeing a large number of girls grow up, especially the younger ones, and seeing how our senior leaders step up to lead our freshmen and sophomores and help them understand the basketball, it’s just great.”

Harvard-Westlake has elected to bring in an interim head coach so it can devote more time to thoroughly searching for a full-time coach.

Hearlihy, who officially retired Aug. 5, won two state championships, four CIF Southern Section championships and nine Mission League titles during his 24 years with the Wolverines. Finding a worthy replacement would take a long time – and that was just as the school year and fall sports season were beginning.

“The way Harvard-Westlake works, it’s not like we just look at a resume and say, ‘Oh, you’re hired,'” said David Rebibo, interim head of the women’s basketball program and men’s college basketball coach.

“It’s okay, we’re going to review resumes, we’re going to invite you to informal meetings. Next, we need to have formal meetings. Then there is the negotiation, the context. So you’re talking about three weeks of school with the arrival of a new coach.

Nailes said he wants to become a full-time head coach at some point in his career, whether with the Harvard-Westlake women’s team or not. He is currently pursuing graduate studies in sports business while working full-time as a project coordinator for an insurance broker while also taking on coaching duties.

“If an opportunity presents itself, I’ll definitely sit down and think about it and it could happen,” Nailes said. “I’m not the one in the driver’s seat to make it happen, but my goal this year is to take it like it’s my job and own it like it’s mine and also give these girls the best time possible.