Myers Named WW Girls Basketball Coach

Matthew Myers has been around West Washington basketball for several years now. He was apart of some sectional championship teams on the boys side, but now he will be moving over to the girls side. On Monday night Myers was announced as the new girls varsity head basketball coach.

Myers said he was excited about the opportunity to take over the program. “It means a lot to step into the program. With where it sits right now I’m excited. We have a lot of great athletes and great support. I’m honored to get a chance to lead the program.”

Athletic Director Darrin Russell said Myers was a good choice for a number of reasons. “He’s experienced. He’s been around the kids before. He’s been in the school system for a long time. I’ve watched him with the boys program and he did a great job with them. He’s energetic and knowledgeable. The kids respect him. I actually wanted him on my staff with me. He’s able to develop relationships with kids and that’s important especially with girls. If the girls can trust you they will fight for you and I know he can do that.”

Myers served under three different head coaches over five years in Greg Dean, Sean Smith, and current head coach Clayton Sullivan.

During his time he said he learned a lot from all of them. “I really grew under Coach Smith. He gave me some more responsibilities and things like that. Then Coach Sullivan gave me even more responsibilities. He and I work so well together. I got to see more behind the scenes stuff. It really helped shape my experience.”

Although he had head coaching aspirations, Myers said he didn’t have any intention of leaving West Washington. He said if a job came open at West Washington he would be interested but if a job opened elsewhere he wouldn’t pursue it. “It all just kind of fell into place,” he explained. “I told Coach Sullivan about my interest in the past, and I decided to make the jump. It’s going to be different. It’s going to be a transition for sure.”

With social distancing still in effect for the next several weeks at least Myers hasn’t had a chance to meet with the team. He said some of the players actually beat him to it and reached out to him to congratulate him. He said he’s begun reaching out to players individually. He said he even reached out to players who didn’t play last year and said hopefully they can meet sooner than later.

This hire was unique for Russell because it was his first hire as the new AD and also it was finding his replacement. He said interviewing was actually a little easier because some of the restrictions had been lifted. They got to meet face to face. He added he believed Myers was the right guy for the job. I wanted to make sure it kept going in the right direction and he is going to take it to the next level. We got the hire right.

When the team is finally able to meet and practice Myers said he wants to establish the team’s identity and compete in everything. “We want to develop the right identity,” he said. “We want that identity to go all the way down the feeder system and set expectations. Winning will be a big thing. We want to be competitive in all we do. We want to compete at a championship level. The switch will be different so we want to build those relationships with the girls.”

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