Much has changed since the Wyoming Coaches Association named Joe Asay the boys’ tennis coach of the year.

After winning Powell High School’s first state championship in program history, Asay was set to be honored at the 2020 Summer Coaches’ Clinic in mid-July. Then COVID-19 struck.

As a result of the global pandemic, the association canceled the 2020 event to avoid putting patrons at risk. But rather than axing the celebration altogether, WCA Past President Mike Lashley came up with an idea: the Banquet Tour.

“We wanted to go around and make it as special as we could with all these coaches,” Lashley said. “It is a special deal to receive a coach of the year honor.”

Lashley spent the week of Monday, June 29 to Friday, July 2 traveling across the state and presenting more than 50 recipients with their coach of the year honors. On Wednesday, he arrived in Powell and delivered the award to Asay in front of some of his athletes.

“… I told him, we just want to let the coaches know that the Coaches Association is thinking about him,” Lashley said.

Asay appreciated the effort.

“It would have been fun to have that recognition [at a banquet], but I looked around and went, ‘Oh, I wouldn’t have had a lot of these bodies probably if we had done it down there,’” he said. “It was really cool to have some of the kids here, so it’s super awesome.”

With Asay at the helm, the Panthers cruised to the state title in 2019. Team members Jesse Brown, Dylan Preator, Aidan Jacobsen, Justin Vanderbeek, Grant Dillivan, Ethan Bartholomew, Jay Cox and Logan Brown won by more than 20 points, taking their first 14 matches.

Championships and accolades are always a goal, but more than that, Asay hopes to once again create a positive atmosphere for his athletes.

“It’s exciting to see, ‘Hey, how do we continue to get out there and compete,’” the coach said. “My emphasis is making sure it’s a good experience for the kids. Maybe the kids will finish and have another state title, but most of all, hopefully it’s a good experience.”