Bechler Becomes RedHawks All-Time Wins Leader

written by Wade Neely for www.GoRedHawks.com

PULASKI, Tenn. – In addition to guiding his squad to one of the best starts in program history this season, RedHawk Women's Basketball head coach Jamy Bechler recently made program history on a personal level as he became the program's all-time winningest head coach earlier this season.

Bechler, who is in his fourth season at Martin Methodist, earned his 58th career win with the club's 91-84 victory over No. 14 Faulkner (Ala.) on Nov. 16, passing Jana Williams for the most wins in program history. Williams recorded 57 victories during her four years as the program's head coach from 1996 to 2000.

During his four-year tenure at the helm of the RedHawks, Bechler has been responsible for a number of accomplishments, including a win over a ranked team in each of his first four seasons. Ironically, it was Bechler's latest victory over a ranked opponent that lifted Bechler to the school's all-time wins mark.

KIRSTEN MOORE OVERCOMES ADVERSITY

The following excerpt is from Bill Plaschke's article in the L.A. Times about Kirsten Moore, the head women's basketball coach at Westmont College.  She recently led her team to the NAIA National Championship.  This story is an amazing example of perseverance and overcoming adversity.  Kirsten is a first-class individual and is well-respected in the coaching profession.  She certainly has a bright future ahead of her in the coaching world, but as you'll see from Plaschke's great article, it is her past which fuels her present and future.

For Westmont College women, sadness fueled an ardor on the court

The women's basketball team at the school south of Santa Barbara rallied around Coach Kirsten Moore and her baby after her husband died unexpectedly. Their crowning gift to her was an NAIA title.

Westmont College women's basketball coach Kirsten Moore and 9-month-old daughter Alexis, wearing the net cut down after the title game. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times / March 31, 2013)

 

By Bill Plaschke

March 30, 2013, 6:11 p.m.

MONTECITO — Her final pep talk wasn't a pep talk at all. Kirsten Moore was beyond pep.
Her final pep talk, given while surrounded by her Westmont College women's basketball team before the NAIA national championship game, was her chance to say thanks.

Moore thanked her team for keeping her soul alive. She thanked them for sitting in the third row for her husband's funeral, for playing with her infant daughter in the third row of the team bus, for sharing her pain and embellishing her joy. She thanked them for their patience when she was weeping at an unseen memory, or staring blankly into an uncertain future, or disappearing just before tipoffs to nurse her child.

"Thank you for loving me," she said.

By the time Moore finished talking, most of her players were crying so hard they couldn't see. They couldn't focus. They couldn't move.

They couldn't lose.

READ THE REST OF BILL PLASCHKE'S L.A. TIMES ARTICLE HERE ....