MISSOULA -- Jordan Hansen is dealing with a pair of expectations of late.
As the new head girls basketball coach at Missoula Big Sky High School, Hansen is navigating life as a head coach and the expectations that come with taking the helm of a new program.
But personally, she is expecting in a different way, as she is due to give birth to twins any day now.
"I'm scheduled for Jan. 15 if I make it that far, but yeah," Hansen said with a laugh at Friday's practice. "I'm ready for it to be over. As much as I love having them in there I'm ready for them to be out."
Hansen and her husband, first-year Big Sky boys basketball coach Ryan Hansen, already have one son. And with the basketball season beginning with the first games a few weeks ago, the two have been balancing their new coaching gigs as well as life as current parents who are expecting to add two more to their family.
“Between the two of us we’re here a lot so trying to navigate with our toddler, who’s watching who, who’s doing what and then being here," Hansen explained. "It’s kind of weird being here. I forget that I’m pregnant, as weird as that sounds, because it’s fun and a distraction but definitely in the last three weeks my body is exhausted. I have to sit down a lot more, which is hard for me to do because I don’t like to sit. I like to be up and demonstrating.”
Being a first-year coach is not easy by any means, but the couple has had plenty of support from their teams with their unique situation and plenty of fun along the way.
"It's been really fun. I can't wait to see her twins," Big Sky senior captain Erin Murphy said with another laugh.
On the court, Big Sky is looking to get back on track after the Eagles have not been in the Class AA state tournament since 2016. In the past three seasons, Big Sky has been 6-54 in girls basketball, so Hansen and Co. have their work cut out for them.
"We have a lot of new stuff we’re learning this year -- new offense and some new defensive stuff, too, but it’ll be really good to get it going," Murphy said. "I think things are going pretty good. Jordan was our JV coach last year and I think we'll have some better successes than the past couple of seasons."
Hansen beginning her head coaching career with the Eagles also brings her basketball life full circle. An Arlee native, Hansen - then Jordan Pfau - graduated from Loyola Sacred Heart in 2010 and went on to play college basketball for two years at Weber State before finishing out her career at Carroll College.
She spent last season as Big Sky's junior varsity coach but also spent a couple of years as an assistant basketball and volleyball coach in Arlee. Now, it's her turn to head the program.
“We’re starting from ground zero, kind of building it and again morphing it to what’s going to work for us, what’s not going to work for us," Hansen said. "Maybe we try this, it’s going to work, maybe it’s not going to, so kind of seeing the girls really take that on and the constant growth of, we push them intensity-wise a little bit and we meet some tension but then we overcome that and it’s really good.
"It’s fun to see the girls kind of make that shift into a more positive direction so that we can be a successful program."
Even though she had a standout high school and college career in basketball, Hansen said coaching was never on her radar growing up. But after helping out with camps and eventually working as an assistant, she decided to throw her hat in the ring when Big Sky's job opened up, and the rest is history.
"I think we've got a good first three weeks under our belt," Hansen said. "(We have) building blocks and we're putting pieces together for sure. We're kind of changing the culture a little bit here at Big Sky so it's a good start. We have a ways to go, but we have until February to get there so we're confident that by the time tournaments come around we'll be where we want to be."
