Wayne Edwards, who has nearly 30 years experience teaching young people basketball, will be the interim girls basketball coach at Edmonds-Woodway High School this year.
Edwards, 70, said he hopes the school can find a young, enthusiastic coach to take over the program permanently, but he said he’s looking forward to working with the girls in the meantime.
“I’m what you would call a basketball junkie,” he said. “I love basketball. I always have … When (Edmonds-Woodway athletic director) Julie Stroncek asked if I would accept the position, I said I would.”
Edwards’ relationship with Edmonds-Woodway started when he ran a clinic for the boys team and was subsequently brought on by coach Gail Pintler as an assistant. He first started working with the E-W girls midway through last season helping assistant Amber Shelley who ran practices and games after coach Shannon Akin was put on administrative leave in January. Akin resigned in March.
Edwards helped coach the girls this summer.
“I believe there’s a lot of talent on the team and I think that it can be developed,” Edwards said. “We got started on that this summer. We were successful and the girls had a lot of fun. The staff had a lot of fun teaching.”
Edwards was an assistant at Shoreline High School under former University of Washington standout Charlie Koon and later at Shorewood under Pintler. He’s also been an assistant for the Lakeside High boys and at Lakeside Middle School .
Edwards graduated from Kittitas High School and played and coached while in the Navy.
Retired from the trucking industry, Edwards works as a personal basketball trainer for the City of Shoreline. His speciality is working with posts. He works regularly with 40 players and has up to 85 total from age eight on up, under his tutelage. He’s worked with Edmonds-Woodway junior post Abby Butler since seventh grade.
“I think we can make playoffs, going any further than, that’s up to how successful we are at teaching basics, fundamentals. How well we bring those girls along. I think they want it and they can be successful. This is, of course, a very tough league. It will be tough but we’re up to the challenge.”
Royals tap Everett Edwards
Lynnwood’s new girls basketball coach plans to emphasize defense.
Everett Edwards, hired this week, describes himself as a defensive-oriented coach.
“I really want to install some aggressive tendencies and strategies to step up that side of the play,” said Edwards, who coached youth basketball, baseball and football in the Lynnwood community for the past five years. “In terms of offense, I hope we’re able to be a running, fast-breaking type of team.”
Edwards replaces Jody Schauer, who left to take the head coaching position at Western Conference South Division rival Kamiak. Lynnwood went 2-14 in the league last year with both victories coming over Mariner. The Royals return a fairly young team.
“The key to turning around is obviously just having support for the program, starting from the bottom up,” Edwards said.
The chance to work in a community that he has lived in for 16 years is what drew Edwards to head coaching position at Lynnwood. Edwards developed an AAU program for girls that encompasses players from around the county. This is his first head coaching position at the high school level.
Edwards played basketball for Seattle University from 1989-1991. He is a detective in the Seattle Police Department. Edwards is married with four children, the youngest of which is a freshman at Lynnwood High School.
“I’m passionate and committed in terms of my philosophy to help young ladies learn about life through the game of basketball,” Edwards said.
TRETTEVIK SLIDES OVER: Edmonds-Woodway girls swim coach Kate Trettevik has been hired to coach the Warriors’ boys swim team. She succeeds Matt Delaney who is stepping down after five years. Trettevik has coached the girls team since 2004. She is a 1997 graduate of Mountlake Terrace High School.
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