Shawn Clark named McGuinness girls basketball coach

Bishop McGuinness didn’t have to look too far to find its next girls basketball coach. Athletic director Gary Savely said Wednesday that former assistant Shawn Clark will be the head coach.

Clark has been a head coach in the past. He was the head coach at St. Mary when former coach Jennifer Burch was attending St. Mary.

“Shawn brings great continuity to the program and fits right in with the school,” Savely said. “He went through the interview process just like everybody else, but we like what we have here and want to keep this good thing going.”

Clark had been Burch’s assistant the last 10 years, said Savely. Burch decided to step down after 11 years last month to spend more time with her family. She led the girls to their first state championship last season.

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I like this hire from the Irish perspective. McGuinness has a lot of good pieces coming back in Kate Andrews and Elyse Hight, etc., so there won’t be that awkward transition.

They won’t have to learn a new style of play and won’t have to try to understand the demeanor of their new coach. Obviously, there will be tweaks here and there, but Clark is very familiar to the girls and the girls have always seemed (from an outsider’s view) to respond well to his instructions.

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Robert Przybylo, bprzybylo@opubco.com