Modeltowner Turnaround: Adam Ely gains buy-in

Adam Ely didn't arrive in Gwinn talking rebuild.

No promise of W's.
No speeches about the future.
No five-year plan.

The Lady Modeltowners had heard it before.

The word "rebuild" gets used a lot in high school sports. Usually with the best intentions. Coaches come in wanting to put their own stamp on a program. When the victories don't come, the plan gets thrown out and rewritten again.

Gwinn hadn't had a winning season since 2020.

In fact, the Modeltowners were 14–74 in their last 88 games.

So when Ely was named head coach in 2025, he knew one thing immediately:

"Rebuild" couldn't be part of the message.

"If I told them we'd come in, develop, and win down the road… I would've lost them right away."

On paper, playing the long game with a program that hasn't had recent success makes sense. After all, the team Ely inherited had just two seniors, with two sophomores in the starting lineup.

Easy lay-up game plan, right?

Year one is developmental.
We're young.
Lose and learn.
Build toward the future.

But Adam Ely saw something different.

A win-now team.

"I honestly thought they had all the pieces you could ask for. They'd just underachieved a little," Ely said. "I felt like they were really on the verge of becoming a winning team."

Suddenly, Ely got this team to buy in and believe in the talent he saw.

He didn't see a program defined by 14 wins in five years.

He saw a foundation that just needed to be sharpened.

"With a coaching change and a whole new system coming in, we had to build a foundation right away," Ely said.

Instead of trying to overhaul everything, Ely focused on two areas he believed could create immediate impact: shot selection and defending without fouling.

"I thought they were better shooters than they had shown," Ely said. "A lot of the issues were more about execution and shot selection than ability."

As the season unfolded, the results began to follow.

Gwinn opened the season by beating Houghton, a team that had beaten the Modeltowners by nearly 50 points the year before. The Gremlins would go on to finish 17–7, one of the strongest teams in the Upper Peninsula this season.

In hindsight, it became a signature win — something Gwinn hadn't had many of in recent years.

Better shots led to better shooting nights. The talent Ely believed was there started to show itself when the offense slowed down and executed with purpose.

And on the defensive end, the numbers told an even bigger story.

"We ended up averaging just nine fouls a game," Ely said. "That's the first time in a decade Gwinn has been under ten. Defending without fouling is such an analytical advantage and it made a huge impact on closing the gap this season."

Cleaner possessions.
Fewer free throws for opponents.
Better opportunities on the other end.

Suddenly, the gap between Gwinn and the teams it had been chasing for years didn’t feel so wide anymore.

Gwinn finished the season 9–13.
At first glance, that record might not jump off the page.
But it represented a four-game improvement from last year — and more wins than the previous two seasons combined.

For the first time since 2019, the Modeltowners played for a District title, a competitive loss to a good Menominee team still playing.

Of the players Ely inherited, only two were seniors: Kadence Ruggerio and Alli Malette.

In a season built on belief and change, both helped lay the foundation for what Gwinn basketball is becoming. Ruggerio, whom Ely calls one of the strongest people he knows, and Malette, whose enthusiasm lifts everyone around her, left everything they had on the court. Their final season wasn't just about wins and losses — it was about helping build something that will last long after their last game.

But for Ely, the progress wasn't always easy for his players to see.

"The hard thing for these girls might have been knowing they were improving and moving along that learning curve," Ely said. "Sometimes I had to pause and show them just how much they were improving, the things that were going well, and how far things had come."

Like most coaches, Ely admits it’s easy to focus on what isn’t working.

"It's easy to look at what didn't go well — that's kind of what we do as coaches so we can practice those things," he said. "But we spent a good amount of time this season measuring successes so the girls could see what was getting better."

And while coaches often get credit for culture changes, Ely is quick to redirect the praise.

"Really, I don't know how much the culture changed because of me," Ely said. "It's all about these girls. They are terrific and make being a coach such a joy. They've made this culture worthy of the sacrifice and commitment that comes with succeeding in sports."

For Ely, that's the part of the season that matters most.

"I could talk all day about how special this team is, and I usually do to anyone who will listen," Ely said. "I've been so proud of these girls because I witnessed not only them improve in basketball, but actually become confident in who they are… which honestly kind of makes me emotional to get into."

And the word “rebuild”?

It was never part of the plan.

Ely didn't build something new.

He revealed what was already there.

Winners