McCoy Era at Parkview Comes to End

It's said that parents' worth is judged by the kids they leave behind.

Perhaps coaches' worth, too.

"If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't have grown into the basketball player I have," Parkview High's Kelsie Stanton said of coach Mike McCoy, who's moving to Mississippi after 11 seasons at Parkview. "He taught me how to deal with diversity. If there was drama [among players], he made us sit down and work it out."

McCoy, who began coaching in Gwinnett County 30 years ago, recently announced he's moving with wife Inga to Hattiesburg to care for her ailing mother. Since notifying players, emotions have run the gamut at the Lilburn school.

"It's a mix of emotions," said point guard Neph Leonidas. "We're glad he'll be with his mother-in-law, but it's difficult on us because we'll have to build with a new coach. It's excitement, but at the same time, it's heartbreak because he won't be here to see what we do."

McCoy feels likewise. "You build relationships with those kids," he told the Gwinnett Daily Post, "and you've gone through a lot of good times and tough times with them."

McCoy began in Gwinnett in 1981 at Lawrenceville Middle, when Eddie Martin left to start Brookwood High's basketball program. His 30 years of coaching in the county included five at Lawrenceville, 14 at Shiloh, and even one at Greater Atlanta Christian. Along the way, he became county coach of the year four times and region coach of the year three times.

En route to a 289-107 record, he won four subregion titles and four region championships. Most notably, he steered Parkview to the Final Four against Redan in 2009 and to its lone state championship in 2003.

"You can tell he's made a big impact on Parkview," said former player Maggie Smith, now playing at Brown. "Their girls program is so much stronger than it's ever been. He's done so much to build up the program."

The key, Leonidas said, is McCoy's intelligence.

"He was definitely one of the smartest coaches I've ever met," she said. "I've never met any coach as intelligent as him."

McCoy influenced many at Parkview, including boys player Darius Marshall, who took the physical education teacher's weight training class.

"He pushed us hard and made sure we had our bodies at our best," he said. "He was just worried about how hard we worked in his class. I found him very serious most of the time, not really playful."

Yet others know McCoy's humorous side, particularly his ability to laugh at himself. There's still debate whether he actually popped that blow-up raft while floating on it in a pool at a Fort Walton Beach hotel, but less doubt about the drives to camp each year at University of Georgia.

"Everyone would vote not to be in coach McCoy's car," Smith fondly recalled. "He would drive at 40 m.p.h. on the highway and blair country music. He'd sing to it, too. We'd get there 40 minutes later than everyone else."

Smith said she enjoyed all four seasons under McCoy, but still doesn't care for country music.

"By the end of one trip," she remembered, "we had him singing rap songs."