Mount Si girls basketball gets new head coach
July 2, 2009
By Ryan Piersol
Megan Marson isn’t offering too much as to what kind of high school coach she’ll be.
But if the Mount Si girls basketball team shows an extra amount of competitiveness this season, feel free to throw a little of the blame her way.
“I’m really competitive,” Marson said. “Even in board games, I’ll sit down and always want to win.”
So goes the new leader of the Mount Si girls, who was announced last week as the replacement for Dirk Hansen. A product of Leavenworth, Wash., Marson takes over the reigns of the Wildcats after spending four years coaching a variety of middle-school sports in the district.
Megan Marson was hired last week as the new girls basketball coach at Mount Si High School.
A former prep standout, Marson said her current career path is just how she always envisioned it.
“I’ve always wanted to coach. I knew in high school that I wanted to pursue coaching,” she said. “I love the relationships you form, love the intensity, love the time in the gym, love the game and love being a role model.”
Marson was an all-league performer at Cascade High School, where she helped the team qualify for the state tournament four straight years.
Her athletic background, however, certainly does not stop there. Marson’s mother was a basketball coach, her uncle was a state champion wrestler and one of her cousins has been active as a football, wrestling, soccer and track coach for several years.
So, when she attended Gonzaga University after high school, she made sure to minor in physical education. Her first job was at Chief Kanim Middle School, where she coached basketball, volleyball, soccer and track for three years. When Twin Falls Middle School opened its doors last year, she moved over to become the school’s volleyball, basketball and track coach, as well as its athletic director.
Even with that impressive spot at Twin Falls, Marson jumped at the opportunity to coach the Mount Si girls when the position opened.
“I was so excited when I heard that I was selected to coach the girls. They’re a great group of girls. I had some of them at Chief Kanim and they’re wonderful,” Marson said. “I feel a lot of support from the parents already. The day I was selected, I got about 18 e-mails from parents congratulating me. Even some of the kids were excited and got in contact with me.”
Mount Si finished 11-13 this past season and made an impressive late-season surge with a young team. The Wildcats were near the bottom of the league at one point, yet battled back to finish third, beating league champion Mercer Island along the way. The season came to an end with an upset loss to Nathan Hale in an opening-round district contest.
Last year’s team lost KingCo 3A/2A Player of the Year Katie Richards to graduation, but the majority of the squad is expected to return. That could make the Wildcats a real contender in the league.
Marson, who watched many of Mount Si’s games last season, said she doesn’t want to spend her first season with the Wildcats with too much of an idealized approach. She said she’ll know what style to push the team toward after she spends more time with them.
“I do like to focus on fundamentals, though. Even though they’re varsity players, they still have to work on the basics,” Marson said. “I’m pretty enthusiastic as a coach. If I sign up to do something, I put everything I have into it. I’m pretty driven. Still, at the same time, I want to be a positive influence.”
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