Rasmussen had 18 successful years
By Tony Dondero
Enterprise reporter
Long-time King’s girls basketball coach Eric Rasmussen resigned last week and will be replaced by Tressa Berg, the Shoreline school has announced.
Rasmussen’s wildly successful 18-year career included 14 straight state tournament appearances and three state titles in 1997 (1A), 2005 (2A) and 2006 (2A).
King’s brought home trophies 11 times from state and also won 13 league titles and eight district championships under Rasmussen, who had a 373-99 overall record.
Rasmussen was named league coach of the year eight times and state coach of the year in 1997, 2005 and 2006.
“The highlight (of coaching at King’s) was the satisfaction of sharing in the lives of hundreds of players that were a joy to coach; kids that were committed to excellence,” Rasmussen said in a statement released by the school.
“It was a privilege to coach at King’s and I will always cherish the experience.”
Rasmussen, who has been superintendent of King’s Schools the past five years, will continue in that role.
“It was harder and harder to give it the amount of time it needed,” he said regarding coaching basketball with his expanded duties as superintendent. “I didn’t want to cheat the kids or the program. The longer I went it kept getting a little bit harder and a little bit harder. It’s something I had been giving consideration to especially since last year.”
Berg, a standout high school basketball player in Oregon, played basketball and volleyball at Concordia University in Portland, Ore. She joined the staff at King’s in 1996 initially at the elementary level before transferring to the high school as a physical education and algebra instructor in 2006. She also has helped coach the King’s track and cross country teams.
Berg hopes to increase the numbers of girls playing basketball at King’s and add a ‘C’ team program. King’s went 7-7 last year and 8-14 overall, missing state for the first time in 14 years.
“We are rebuilding but I’m excited to see what happens,” Berg said.
Berg, who plans to press and coach an up-tempo style, will hire her own staff which will include her husband, Dan Berg. Rasmussen may continue to help the program by coaching the younger athletes in the school’s feeder program, she said.
“My daughter is coming through and I hope to do some stuff outside of school with AAU and help out,” he said. “I told them they have my full support and backing. It’s theirs, it’s Tressa’s, her and Dan’s. It’s her show and I want to step back and be supportive.”
Rasmussen said his resignation probably won’t hit him until the first day of tryouts.
“Come Nov. 17 at 3:30, that day I’m going to think, ‘Hey this is weird,’” he said.
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