Ever since the turn of the millennium when she was playing girls basketball for the Trojans, Jenny Schmutzler dreamed of one day sitting on that sideline as Chambersburg's coach.

Now, she'll get her chance.

The Chambersburg Area school board approved Schmutzler as the new Trojan girls basketball coach on Wednesday. She replaces Anthony Rose, who resigned after the season.

"I'm very excited," said Schmutzler, who coached the Chambersburg Middle School seventh-grade team the last three years and has also coached the eighth- and ninth-grade teams as well as junior varsity.

"I've coached in the program for eight years and I've coached a lot of these girls that are coming up. I'm very excited to get a chance to be a head coach of the program. I'm very appreciative the school gave me the chance to have the position as well."

Schmutzler, who played guard for the Trojans and graduated in 2001, has been coaching the varsity team during its summer program, helping her build a relationship with the players. She had already seen the team play plenty before, attending several games last year with her seventh-grade team.

"She has a good rapport with the kids and I think she's going to do a good job," Chambersburg athletic director Don Folmar said.

She liked some of what she saw, noting she'll stick with man-to-man defense while mixing in some zone, and plans to implement some new offensive ideas.

But most of all, she plans on using her knowledge of the Mid Penn Commonwealth,

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both from her playing and coaching days, to bring the Trojans to prominence.

"I know that night in, night out we're going to have tough games," she said. "With our league, coaches coming in don't realize how tough the Mid Penn league we're in is. I've played against the Cumberland Valleys and the Carlisles If you don't bring your A game, it's going to be a tough night.

"I'm very excited and I'm very optimistic that this can be a great year. There are a lot of great girls and kids coming up. I know the coaching staff. Hopefully we'll continue to click and be a close-knit coaching staff that can continue to build the program."

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Colin Stevens can be reached at cstevens@publicopinionnews.com and 262-4819, or on Twitter @ColinStevens06.