Those who know Wayne Edwards are familiar with the foundation of his coaching philosophy:
“There are no mistakes. Just learning experiences.”
Edwards has been turning basketball player’s mistakes into learning experiences for more than 30 years. At 78 years old, he currently serves as an assistant coach for the defending Class 3A state champion Lynnwood High School girls team.
“He is just such a positive influence, not only for our players, but for me as well,” Lynnwood head coach Everett Edwards said. “It’s a motivator for me to think, ‘Here he is, almost 80 years old, and he has more energy than anybody out there.’ The bottom line is he just has a great heart and a great soul. His love for the game of basketball and his love for being able to teach the kids, I just feel very fortunate to have that around in my coaching staff.”
Although the two coaches are not related, they call each other “cousin.” It’s been that way since they met in 2007. Wayne Edwards was the new coach of the Edmonds-Woodway girls team, and Everett Edwards was in his first season at Lynnwood.
“We were at Edmonds-Woodway (for a game) and I was lost,” Everett Edwards said. “I didn’t know where the building was and I saw him and asked where it was. He said, ‘We can walk down there together.’ We found out each others’ names and called each other ‘cousins.’ And we’ve been cousins ever since.”
Edmonds-Woodway wasn’t the first coaching stop for Wayne Edwards. His career began in the 1950s, when he was a player-coach for a Navy squad. After that, he coached at Shoreline High School from the late 1970s until the school closed in 1986. Then he moved to Shorewood to serve as the junior-varsity coach before retiring in 1989.
Retirement didn’t stick.
After doing private training for 10 years — and taking some time to travel around the country — he was lured back into coaching by WIAA Hall of Famer Sandy Schneider, who was coaching girls basketball at Lakeside High School.
Edwards eventually moved to Edmonds-Woodway as an assistant coach on the boys team, helping the Warriors to consecutive state-tournament appearances. Then, while on a road trip with his wife, Loretta, he got a phone call asking him to take over the E-W girls program.
After two more years at Edmonds-Woodway, Wayne retired. Again.
And again, retirement didn’t stick.
He soon found himself splitting time between Everett Edwards and the Lynnwood girls team, and Steve Call and the Edmonds-Woodway boys team, working with both squads’ post players.
Eventually, Edwards became a full-fledged assistant coach at Lynnwood, where he’s instructed the Royals on post play and ball-handling ever since.
“You can go through all the sayings and all the different things but the main things I get from him are his humor and his storytelling,” Everett Edwards said. “And he has a lot of stories. It’s just one of those things where he helps me just to have fun and try to relax a little bit and just to have a good attitude and just realize that we aren’t guaranteed anything. Just be happy for our health and our opportunity to be around the game of basketball.”
Wayne’s optimistic outlook has helped him win battles on and off the court. He’s twice beaten cancer. At times, he would arrive at the Royals’ practice after enduring five hours of chemotherapy. He was selected for stem-cell treatment at an age older than usual because of his “great attitude and energy,” Everett Edwards said. “A lot of times they don’t like to have people that old be a stem cell candidate. But because of his conditioning and his positive attitude, he was chosen for that.”
Players and opposing coaches alike speak highly of Wayne’s positive, cheerful demeanor.
“A lot of coaches have great knowledge — so does Wayne — but I think his passion sets him apart,” Shorecrest girls head coach Dori Monson said. “He’s just so genuine in how much he cares about the kids succeeding. All the kids he works with see that and when they know their coach cares that deeply about them, it develops a mutual respect that I think sets Wayne apart.”
Monson tried to recruit Wayne to Shorecrest but Wayne said he was unable to commit to the grind of coaching again.
“Then,” Monson said, “Dang it, Everett snuck in during a weak moment for Wayne and stole him away from the rest of us.”
Everett is unapologetic. “I was able to trick him into coming in and helping coach here at Lynnwood,” he said with a laugh.
Monson did, however, connect Wayne with one of his players. Janie Uppinghouse, a former Scots star who graduated in 2012, worked with Wayne from seventh grade on. The guard developed a baseline move called “The Wayne Move,” and is still close with the Edwards family.
“I owe so much to him for how far I got in high school,” Uppinghouse said. “He was like a grandpa figure to me. My grandparents died when I was younger. He was more than a basketball trainer to me. I’d go to lunch with him and his wife. He was part of the family.
“He’s one of the most positive, inspirational people I’ve ever met. He kind of lives his life that way and pours himself into everyone he works with.”
Wayne’s current players know what a privilege it is to have him on their side, too.
“He brings a little bit of fun,” said Jordyn Edwards, a senior wing for Lynnwood. “He makes the tension and nerves go away quite a bit. He plays jokes. He’ll tap you on the shoulder and then go the opposite way. He just makes us laugh and puts us at ease.”
Wayne has coached hundreds of kids — whose names, high schools and colleges he can recite — and is well-known throughout the coaching community. He has coached his son and enjoys watching his grandson, current Edmonds-Woodway senior Brady Edwards, play.
Wayne can’t pick a favorite team or player, but one group of girls does stand out.
“One of my favorite teams is this team that I’m working with now,” he said. “The girls of last year were in the same category. Mikayla (Pivec) is a super individual as a person, as an athlete. It’s an honor to be able to work with Mikayla and Jordyn and all these girls — Reilly Walsh, Kaprice Boston — they are all just amazing.”
The Lynnwood players are so fond of Wayne and his wife that they named one of Wayne’s post plays “Loretta.” Like Wayne, Loretta Edwards is a fixture at Royals basketball games.
But while Wayne is known for his old-school post moves, he’s still a student of the game.
“I just love how he’s able to take his old-school experience and modernize it to today’s game,” Everett Edwards said. “He’ll come up with a new move and come running in saying, ‘Coach, I got a new move that I saw last night that Steph Curry did!’ Then, the kids are out here trying to do that move.”
In an effort to make sure it’s done correctly, Wayne has been known to personally demonstrate moves in practice.
“He always says he’s over 100, but I don’t believe that,” Pivec said. “He’s pretty agile.”
Wayne often tells people he’s “78 going on 102” or that he’s “old as dirt and twice as dusty.” Yet, he shows no sign of slowing down.
“I’d love to continue to coach. I’d love to teach,” Wayne said. “I just have had a lot of fun. There’s nothing like the game of basketball.”
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