Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, April 10, 1993 TAG: 9304100114
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB TEITLEBAUM STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
BLACKSBURG'S MCGUIGAN REACHES THE TOP FAST
It's a cliche that to coach a sport, you must have savored it as a competitor on at least one level - high school, college or professional.Meet Blacksburg girls' basketball coach Mickey McGuigan, who is testimony that this axiom is not always true. His playing experience was in summer camp with the guys.
Yet McGuigan, since taking over the Blacksburg girls' basketball program four years ago, has been successful.
His second team finished as Group AA runner-up. This year, the Indians improved with 27 straight victories and a Group AA title that helped McGuigan earn Timesland girls' basketball coach of the year honors.
McGuigan beat out veteran coach Richard Thrasher, who guided a young William Byrd team (three freshman starters) to the Group AA runner-up position where the Terriers lost 37-33.
"When I came to Virginia Tech, I wanted to be a forest ranger," McGuigan said. "I was in the forestry school."
Basketball put an end to that ambition.
"It was something I had always been interested in. I'd played basketball at summer camp and played with guys who played college basketball," he said. "I wanted to get into coaching and when I had an opportunity to help with the junior varsity program [in 1980], I took that opportunity."
Three years later "they felt comfortable enough that they gave me the [junior varsity] job."
Despite the lack of playing time, McGuigan feels he's learned from two of the best - former Blacksburg girls' basketball coach Warren Murphy, who produced one state champion, and boys' basketball coach Bob Trear, who is regarded as one of the state's better mentors.
This year, the pressure became more intense as the Indians rolled through one opponent after another. It's one thing to win a state championship and another to go through a perfect season.
"For me, I tried to put it aside after 10 games. I tried not to think whether we'd go unbeaten. We simply tried to say we'd go a game at a time. The team never focused on whether we were unbeaten. We just played the best we could and it took care of the way it worked."
McGuigan had a balanced team. While Katie Ollendick made first team All-Timesland and Suzanne Moore made second team, it just as easily could have been juniors Mary Thorn and Meredith Braine in those positions.
"We could move the ball up and down the court, slow or fast, go inside or keep it outside," McGuigan said.
Thrasher, who hasn't won a state championship, has been to the finals a couple of times and to the state tournament many times.
His Byrd teams have consistently competed for district and regional titles, even when they've been wiped out by graduation. Such was the case this year when the Terriers had only two starters back but still made the state championship game.