Hayley Hellyer is ready to take her turn.

Hellyer has long hoped to be a head basketball coach, and she gets her chance as the new coach of the Danville girls.

Hellyer, who has coached at the middle school, high school and college levels in a career that began soon after college, was hired Monday by the school.

“I’ve always had the desire to be a head coach. Ever since I was little it’s been a dream of mine,” Hellyer said. “And this was a great opportunity, one I couldn’t pass up.”

Hellyer, who played at Boyle County and Campbellsville University, most recently worked for three seasons as an assistant coach for the women’s team at Asbury University.

She spent one season as an assistant coach at Boyle and six seasons with Boyle County Middle School as an assistant coach and head coach.

Hellyer said while there are stark differences at each level where she has coached, the most important parts of the job are the same.

“The skill level changes, but building relationships with the girls is the same,” she said. “College is a lot of traveling and late nights and it’s a fast pace, but I still felt like the same thing is needed: The girls need to know that you believe in them and that you have their back. They have goals and you need to set high expectations for them.”

Hellyer replaces one of her former coaches, Judie Mason, who resigned in May after 14 seasons with the Lady Admirals.

“I haven’t had much contact with her, but I definitely have a ton of respect for the tradition she built at Danville,” Hellyer said.

Hellyer played for Mason at Boyle for four seasons after being promoted to the varsity roster as a seventh-grader. She spent six seasons on the Boyle varsity and was named to the Advocate’s All-Area first team three times, and she ranked third at Boyle in career scoring when she graduated in 2009.

She spent five seasons at Campbellsville, where she was a captain on the 2013-14 team that went 32-4, won conference regular-season and tournament titles and reached the quarterfinals of the NAIA tournament. She was salutatorian of her 2013 graduating class and earned a master’s degree in 2014.

Hellyer said she was fortunate to have strong support systems within both her family and her school, and she wants to provide that support for other girls.

“I’ve always wanted to give back, to be another adult female that they know has their back and is going to push them and help them take that next step,” she said.

She said she has great respect for male coaches she has played for and coached under, but she believes female coaches play an important role in girls sports.

“Something about being a female, having someone there with you who knows the things you’ve gone through, makes it easier to have that relationship,” Hellyer said.

Hellyer’s first priority at Danville was to set up a meeting with the players as soon as possible after the KHSAA dead period ended Wednesday.

“I want to meet the girls, set a schedule, get some open gyms going … and let them figure out who I am and what I’m about,” she said.

The Lady Admirals lose no seniors from a team that went 15-16 and was the 45th District runner-up last season, but they have lost ground this summer by not playing in June.

“It’s definitely a hurdle, but I think we can catch up,” Hellyer said. “We’ve got a few months to regroup and get things going. I believe in these girls and I think they’ll adapt just fine.”

Hellyer, who works as a budget manager for LG&E and KU Energy, said she’s also getting right to work on assembling a coaching staff, and she said she’s looking forward to getting into the gym as soon as possible.

“I’m just very excited, and I can’t wait to get started and get into the open gym and workouts and all of those unnoticed things,” she said.

She said she has learned things from the many coaches who have impacted her that she will put into practice.

“I’m excited now that it’s my turn,” she said. “I want to hopefully be successful and really just prepare the girls for whatever their next step is, whether that’s college or something else.”