Top Marks For Coaching Wv’S Kuipers Joins U-Hi’S Stinson As Associate Head Coach

If two heads are better than one, the University High girls basketball program is on the mark.

Mark Stinson, the Titan head coach, and Mark Kuipers, who announced his resignation as West Valley’s girls coach this week, are joining forces next season.

Stinson’s teams have finished third and second in the Greater Spokane League the past two years and both times were regional playoff participants. Kuipers coached the Eagles to a state championship during his seven-year tenure at WV.

“He’ll be varsity associate head coach,” said Stinson. “I think that’s how they say it in college.”

Kuipers resigned for personal and family reasons. He lives in the Central Valley School District where his seventh-grade daughter Emily is a budding player.

And, he said, “It was time to move on and get into the GSL.”

Kuipers leaves West Valley with a 70-85 record that included a coaching highlight state title in 1997.

“It was just an amazing thing,” Kuipers said of a moment he couldn’t imagine in his wildest dreams. “There was pressure on us at district, but not at state. The kids came there and put it all together.”

The ‘97 AA champions won the Frontier League, finished second to Cheney in districts, but swept past four teams in Tacoma. They won by an average of 13 points a game and made a record 25 3-point baskets that accounted for nearly one-third of their total tournament points.

Kuipers will be leaving another veteran group with mixed emotions. Eight players return from last year’s 10-11 WV team.

“The girls who will be seniors are a special group,” he said. “They started in Little Dribblers and grew up with me.”

But, he added, he’s excited about the impending change.

Stinson expressed delight that Kuipers will join him on the Titan staff.

“I like to surround myself with quality people and he’s quality,” said Stinson. “It’s nice to have anyone with that knowledge.”

The two met, ironically, at a Taco Time in North Bend, Wash., three years ago when the Eagles were on their way to state and Stinson was still coaching at Tekoa-Oakesdale. They began talking, said Kuipers, as if they’d known each other for years.

Neither anticipates a problem with two head coaches on the same bench.

“He’s going to be the decision maker, I know that,” said Kuipers. “At the same time, I’ll have input.”

Stinson added that anyone who knows him knows he’s easy to work with. “I don’t have to have all the decision-making responsibility. We’ll bounce ideas off each other.”

Plus, with six summer teams to monitor and the fact he’s getting married this summer, the more coaches the better, said Stinson.

During his two years at U-Hi, the Titans have compiled a 36-17 overall record. This year they were 20-7 and just missed qualifying for state.

The aim, with two Marks putting their heads together, is to get there.