COPLEY — After leading the Copley girls basketball team to its second state semifinal in three seasons, Julie Solis has stepped down as coach.
She will be replaced by Mary Stockdale Miller, pending board approval at the next board meeting.
Solis guided Copley to an 87-20 record in her four years at the school and has a 464-89 overall record. She is stepping away to take care of some health issues that came up during the season.
“I loved Copley they had great people, great kids and a great administration. It’s a very supportive place. It was a very easy transition form. It was an easy transition for me. I enjoyed every minute of it.”
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Copley girls basketball found success under Julie Solis
In her 25 years of coaching, Solis led teams to 18-plus win seasons 16 times, including all four seasons at Copley.
“I can’t thank Julie enough for all she has done at Copley,” athletic director Andy Jalwan said. “She came to Copley at a time where we needed somebody exactly like her. With the talent and the roster we had, we needed a coach of her caliber to maximize that and she did it.”
Solis leaves a team that graduated Evelyn McKnight, an Ohio Ms. Basketball candidate and Ohio High School Basketball Coaches Association Division III Player of the Year.
McKnight, who set the school scoring record, accompanies Audrey Parker, Zoey Van Voorhis, Riley Cowan and Sophia Arnold as 2026 graduates and Ale Morrondo-Garcia will be back in Spain.
What returns is the blueprint of a 21-7 season that ended in the final four.
What Copley girls basketball has in Mary Stockdale Miller
Stockdale Miller, who is a longtime math teacher at the high school, knows how to play and coach the game.
She is a 2022 Barberton Sports Hall of Famer and NCAA national champion at Cedarville University in 2008.
Miller led the Magics to a 2004 Division I state semifinal as a senior center who averaged 6.9 points and 12.6 rebounds under legendary coach Pam Davis.
“I am incredibly excited and blessed to continue what Julie has established at Copley High School,” Miller said. “I’ve been a part of the community for the last 14 years as a teacher, as a parent and as a coach. Copley is just an incredible place to be and I look forward to working with the kids.”
Miller is currently in her third season as an assistant on the Copley track and field team. She previously was a girls basketball assistant coach at Copley for two seasons.
Miller has also been an girls hoops assistant at Massillon, Hudson, Green, Jackson and Springfield Shawnee.
“Mary has a lot of relationships within or community,” Jalwan said. “She’s been a strong advocate of our youth program. The emphasis for us now is to get back to where we have consistently win league titles. We’re going to have to do that by building up the middle school and youth programs to make sure we can continue to be competitive in our league.”
Brad Bournival can be reached by email at bbournival@usatodayco.com and is on X at @bbournival.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Copley coach Julie Solis steps down, Mary Stockdale Miller steps in
Reporting by Brad Bournival, Akron Beacon Journal / Akron Beacon Journal
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