In recent years, Osceola High School storied girls’ basketball has fallen on hard times. The once proud program hit a low point last year with a 3-13 record, and has posted just one winning season in its last four campaigns, a modest 12-9 record three years ago.
Looking to change that trend, OHS Athletic Director Jim Bird looked to the school’s past, naming former Kowgirls star player Ra’shawna Sippio as its next head coach.
Sippio replaces Dion Byrum, who led the team for three seasons.
“Honestly from what I understand, it has been a troubled program the last couple of years. The girls who played on that team have told me about the pressure they constantly felt, which caused some players to transfer out of the program,” Sippio said. “My goal in the first year is to re-establish what it was like when I played here. First and foremost, I want this to be a learning experience for the players. I want them to get better, but wins and losses in the first year will not be as important as establishing a new culture.”
Bird said he has “the utmost confidence” in Sippio’s ability to put OHS girls basketball back on the map.
“Ra’shawna is an Osceola High grad and one of the best players this school has ever produced. Her family has been part of this school’s athletic program for decades and she understands the Kowboy way,” Bird said.
“I am excited that she has accepted the challenge.”
A 2005 OHS graduate, Sippio was a four-time All-Orange Belt Conference and a two-time Osceola County Player of the Year. She averaged 21 points and 12 rebounds as a senior and was part of the Kowboys’ 2004 Class 6A (then the largest class) Final Four tournament run. She was named to Class 5A All-State Team as a sophomore and made various all-state teams as both a junior and senior.
Sippio played college basketball at Chipola State College and University of South Alabama. At Chipola, she was a twotime All-Panhandle Conference nominee while helping the Indians to back-to-back FCCAA Region 3 championships. As a sophomore, Sippio averaged 10.1 points and 7.3 rebounds, helping Chipola to a 30-7 record and fifth place finish in the NJCAA National Tournament. She also played a key role in helping the team get to a Final Four as a freshman. In her two seasons, Chipola had a record of 61-13 and finished in the top 10 nationally twice.
She went on to a stellar career at South Alabama, lettering two seasons. As a junior, she scored 7.2 points and 5.5 rebounds per game. Sippio upped those totals to 10.9 ppg and 8.4 rpg as a senior. She went on to play in various semi-professional leagues, and had some offers to play professionally overseas.
It will be her first stint as a head coach, but she has served on coaching staffs at both the high school and college level with stops at Osceola High (2010-12), Jones High in Orlando (2012-13, 2014-16), an internship at Chipola (2014) and last season at Poinciana.
“I was absolutely honored to be selected,” she said of the Osceola opportunity. “During all those years of being an assistant, I was not sure I wanted the pressure and responsibilities of being a head coach after watching what they had to go through. But Osceola High School is where I belong and this was an opportunity I could not turn down.”
A teacher at Discovery Middle School for the last seven years, Sippio is expected to transfer to OHS for the 2022-23 school year. “I feel like it will be vital to be on campus where the players can see me and interact with me at any time,” Sippio said.
She is part of a legendary Osceola High athletic family. Father Robert was a multi-sport star and two-time state discus champion (1979-80) for the Kowboys, while her older brother Bobby quarterbacked the 1998 Osceola County state champion football team and later played in the NFL and played for the Arena Football League ArenaBowl champion Chicago Rush. Ra’Shawna said she expects her father to join her staff as an assistant.
“He has so much experience and knowledge, especially when it involves Osceola High School sports,” Sippio said. “When I first accepted the job, he was my first call. He has such a great respect and relationships with the school, I knew he would be a great asset.”
