Tracy Press

After nine years at the helm of the West High girls basketball team, Joe Lawrence waves goodbye to a job that's seen him captain some of the school's best athletic talent.

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West High varsity girls basketball coach Joe Lawrence will step down after leading the team for nine years. Lawrence made the decision last year but kept it under wraps. Glenn Moore/Tracy Press

 

His team clearly had talent, and he had to help the top players live up to their potential and make the rest of the team match that potential.

"The hardest part is getting everyone on the team to buy into what you’re doing and play together," he said.

Since then, his teams have gone to the playoffs seven out of nine seasons, including this year, when the team went 23-6 overall and 8-2 in the Tri-City Athletic League.

After the last game against McClatchy High, Lawrence told his team that it would be his last year as coach. He said this week that he made his decision about a year ago when he knew that his son, Beau, would play basketball at West as a freshman.

Rather than try to split his time between two teams, Lawrence said he will focus on his son’s team. At the very least, he will go to the freshman team’s games, and he hopes to help out the team himself as an assistant coach.

Lawrence continues as the head of West’s P.E. department, but he said the decision to step down as coach was tough, because he gives up a role that connected him to some of the game’s top players.

The playoff teams he coached in his first and second years included Cameo Hicks, who went onto become a two-time first-team All Pac-10 player as a guard for the University of Washington. The next year, the team added Dominique Carter, who just finished her career at the University of San Francisco as a four-time first-team player for the West Coast Conference and No. 3 all-time scoring leader for the WCC.

As a coach for all of his professional career, Lawrence, 43, coached seventh- and eighth-grade boys basketball teams at Clover Middle School when he came to town in 1993, and the next year, he became the freshman boys coach at West High. He became the girls varsity coach at West the same year he moved over to West’s P.E. department.

The entire time, he has worked with the idea that coaches and young athletes must inspire and learn from each other.

"The kids can see it. If you’re committed, they’re committed. They know if you’re full of it or if you’re honest about what you do."

The school and the Tracy Unified School District now begin the search for a replacement. Anyone interested in the job will have to apply and go through interviews. Lawrence said the varsity team’s assistant coach, Tina Afan, has applied for the job. Others who work at West or in the district can also apply, and if the district doesn’t hire anyone in-house, it can search outside the district.

"Joe’s been outstanding here. It’s going to be some big shoes to fill for whoever takes the job," West athletic director Steve Thornton said.

"The only problem he’s faced is that we’re in the same league as St. Mary’s," Thornton said, noting that West’s only two losses in the TCAL were to the Stockton school, which consistently dominates the league. St. Mary’s is going for the Northern California title on Friday, which is the semifinal match for the state championship game next week.

After St. Mary’s is finished for the year, the league will announce its All-League teams. Lawrence said he expects his starters from this year to be on that list and figures West will be represented on the first team.

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written by Coach P , March 08, 2008

Joe did amazing things for the West girls program...he'll be missed but he'll be a great addition back on the boys side next year!

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written by TimRHoward , March 08, 2008

Thanks for you for your years of service Joe, I know as a coach its sometimes a thankless job. The program will miss you!