Beth Maher is no longer employed as the girls high school basketball coach at Shanley in North Dakota. The third-year head coach made it very clear that it was not a resignation.
She does not know why she was let go.
A small group of angry parents reportedly led a coup to get both high school basketball coaches fired. It worked.
Shanley high school fired both basketball coaches.
Shanley High School is a private Catholic school located in Fargo, North Dakota. It and affiliated Sacred Heart Middle School has a combined enrollment of ~575 students in Grades 9-12. Approximately 300 students are enrolled at the high school.
The Deacons compete on the Division AA level. The girls basketball program finished the 2025-26 season as the No. 52-ranked team in the state at 16-10 overall while the boys finished at 3-17.
Both head coaches were fired over the weekend.
Stefan Webber was let go as the boys coach after three-straight seasons with five wins or less. Beth Maher was let go as the girls coach after one of the more successful runs in recent program history.
Maher led Shanley to its first state tournament appearance since 2021 in 2025. The Deacons returned again in 2026. They also produced four all-conference and two all-state players under her guidance.
Beth Maher does not know why she was let go.
It makes perfect sense that Webber was dismissed. He didn’t win!
However, Maher had her program trending upward. The 16-10 record during 2025-26 season was the best in three years. There was a lot of positive momentum. She did a great job of promoting the school.
And yet, she is now out after just three seasons. It was not a mutual decision.
I am no longer the Head Girls Basketball Coach at Shanley. I did not resign from my position. This decision came as a surprise to me, especially given the progress our program has made in recent years.
I’m very proud of the culture that our players and coaching staff created at Shanley and the work we put into building this program. Participation in girls basketball is declining across the country, yet we’ve seen an increase in numbers within the Deacon Flames Girls program over the past three years. It’s been exciting to watch that growth, and I believe it will continue to move in a positive direction.
Our program reached two state tournaments after years of not qualifying, and we saw consistent improvement in our record each season. More importantly, we saw clear growth in our team culture and in the development of our players both on and off the court.
While I’m very disappointed that I will no longer be involved at Shanley, I’m grateful for the opportunity to have worked with such dedicated student-athletes and a committed staff.
— Elizabeth Bue Maher
The Deacons released the following statement regarding its decision(s).
St. John Paul II Catholic Schools is committed to its mission to teach the total person in all its programs. When making decisions about the leadership of our activities programs, we consider a wide range of factors rooted in our mission, above all factors that enable our student-athletes to flourish. Beyond that, we are not free to comment further about personnel matters.
— Shanley activities director Mark Hollcraft
According to local sports reporter Dom Izzo, it was a “group of unhappy parents” who forced the changes for both the girls and boys high school basketball programs. He says it “isn’t the first time that angry parents have forced a basketball change.”
Although there was obviously a group of people who wanted her out, a large portion of the local community stood in support of Beth Maher. They are disappointed both by the ouster and with the system that allowed for a group of parents to be involved with administrative decisions.