By Andy Loigu

In her 14th season of coaching the Warren Hills Blue Streaks’ girls basketball team, Meghan McGeehan enjoyed her 200th head coaching victory in February against Bridgewater.

When she came to Warren Hills, she was eager and optimistic after experiencing a great deal of success as a player at North Hunterdon and assistant coach at Voorhees, the two most dominant programs in the Skyland Conference in those days. She vowed to make Warren Hills the same kind of consistent winner that earns respect throughout the area year after year.

She has succeeded.

While championship games between teams with equal ability may sometimes be decided by a lucky bounce of the ball, or a questionable call from a referee, she told her players from the start that the only things they can control are their attitude and effort. “Winning teams communicate and play together and don’t overlook the little fundamental things that ultimately make a big difference,” she teaches.

In looking back at it all, she said she’s learned through experience to take things in stride. “I’ve learned it is important to hold kids accountable because we’re here to develop better people. Coaching high schoolers is a tough balance between competitiveness and inclusiveness,” she reflected.

Under her direction the Blue Streaks have reached the Hunterdon/Warren/Sussex semifinals the last five seasons (not including the COVID year) and have made it to the sectional finals three years in a row, winning the North 2 Group3 championship in 2020, just days before the state finals were called off. 

She said the time lost to COVID was the worst part of the last few years of her tenure, “but the captains I had were great at keeping everyone in touch and making sure to tell me how everyone was doing. Our team was very close-knit and it resulted in only one relatively short  shutdown. The student athletes were so happy to be together and playing again that masking and distancing outside of practice was an easy compromise,” she said.

Strategy wise, she said that willingness to alter her system of play according to the strengths of the girls she has at any given time, has been a major element of winning. “When we had athletes who could run and press, we played a faster paced game, scoring baskets on the fast break. Then we had three six-footers come into the program, who could play and had talent, so we focused on rebounding and working the ball inside,” she remembered. Those teams scored a lot of points on second shots and at the free throw line. 

“Maintaining success is a constant process, game to game, of making adjustments and evaluating matchups. Every year my assistants and I have talked about our players’ strong and weak points and how that would shape our future,” she continued.

“Without the suggestions and contributions of assistant coaches Joe Blackford, Meg Bublitz, Mike Howey, and Renee Smola,” she added, “we would not have accomplished what we have,” and described working together with her staff as a blessing.

A University of Maryland graduate, who created a club team on a campus that was women’s basketball crazy after the Terrapins’ many post-season successes, McGeehan thanked Voorhees coach Carmen Cook for allowing her to gain experience working on his “great staff.” She also thanked former Warren Hills Athletic Director Nick Holgash, “who took a chance on me and gave me a shot at my first head coaching position.”

Finally, she said, “I hope all my former student athletes know they can always call on me if they ever need anything.”

THREE-SPORT SPOTLIGHT

In a time when many parents push their kids into being one-sport specialists, hoping that will land them an athletic scholarship, Hackettstown High is fortunate to have sophomore Kiara Koeller as an up and coming athlete who participates in three sports, field hockey in the fall, swimming in the winter, and track in the spring.

She scored 15 goals in field hockey for the Tigers last fall and had several medal winning performances in swimming the freestyle events. In track and field dual meets this spring she has finished first three times in long distance runs and four times in the 110 and 400 meter hurdles and triple jump.

And she’s just getting started.

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Ladies and gentlemen, Elvis has left the building.