A M Stone | WVOW Sports
LOGAN A new Logan High School boys’ head basketball coach begins his tenure Tuesday, July second.
The new coach is an old name. Mark Hatcher is officially slated to return to the helm of the Wildcat program next season, following the meeting of the Logan County Board of Education Monday evening. It will make his second stint as head coach and his first in a decade.
“I left to do some better things financially for my family and I’ve got to achieve some of those things,” Hatcher told WVOW Sports recently.
Hatcher’s business is Superior Pocahontas Construction, but he says coaching is his dream job.
“Anybody that knows me knows that I loved it,” Hatcher said, “and I’ve always loved Logan basketball.”
His previous run as coach of the Wildcats was from 2000 to 2015. He picked up two state championships in 2005 and 2010.
“I missed it since I left it,” Hatcher said. “I thought Zach (Green) and Jeff (Williamson) did great jobs. When it came open I just wanted to put my name out there.”
Hatcher’s predecessor, and a former player on that 2005 “AA” championship team, Jeff Williamson spent one year with the program. The Wildcats collected a 16-10 record last season and made an appearance at the state tournament.
Logan returns to the “AA” class next season and Hatcher says he’s looking forward to the tradition of competition that comes along with that.
“I do like that Double A seems to be where a lot the teams that we played in the past and had great rivalries like Wyoming East, Westside and Scott. Some of those teams are in that class. It makes it fun when you have those types of rivalries,” Hatcher said.
Hatcher says things have changed in the last nine years, but he says he has changed too. He says the one thing that hasn’t changed is the fact he has spent his life around basketball.
“I hope I can still remember how to do it,” Hatcher said with a chuckle.
Hatcher says he knows somethings better now, but says it’s still nerve raking.
“I’m not gonna lie,” Hatcher said,” I’m nervous a little bit about it. Probably more nervous than when I was thirty years old.
Hatcher said with success there is also hard times and says coming back after a nine-year absence is going be a little different.
“My expectations are to really just look at the program from top to bottom,” Hatcher said.
“Our middle school has been successful, so we need to continue that. Where we’re a smaller school we need every kid playing every sport. A lot things going in the right direction, just gotta keep it going that way.”
PHOTO | Mark Hatcher