New Edmonds-Woodway Boys Basketball Coach 'Loves to Teach'

Steve Call holds many titles: Father, husband, clinical psychologist, professor. Last week, he added another title to his list: Head coach of the Edmonds-Woodway boys basketball team.

Call was announced as the new head coach of the Warriors last Wednesday after three years at the helm of the Shoreline Christian program. Patch spoke with him shortly after the hire to hear his thoughts on his new position, his busy schedule and his passion for coaching.

A Teacher at Heart

Understanding who Edmonds-Woodway is getting as its new boys basketball coach is a bit like reading an impressive resume. Call has a Ph.D in clinical psychology, runs a private practice in Bellevue, and teaches part-time at Mars Hill Graduate School in Seattle. His schedule may seem too packed for coaching duties, but the full load is something Call has become accustomed to and enjoys.

“It’s actually a great balance because I do part-time teaching, part-time clinical works and part-time coaching," Call said. "I couldn’t do any of those full-time, but I love the blend of it, the mix of it.”

That seemingly eclectic blend is highlighted by a commonality: Call loves to teach. Whether it's a family in his practice, a student in his class, or a player on his team, Call gets a genuine thrill out of teaching someone how to do something, regardless of the situation.

“Part of the reason I think I really love the coaching is because I love to teach," Call said. "I like to train professionally and work with adolescent boys on the court. There’s a lot of crossover.”

Call credits his family with helping him add the basketball coaching to his resume. Call was an assistant coach at Juanita, where his son, Jordan, starred. Call also coached with the Seattle Magic AAU program from 2000-2008 when Jordan moved on to play at Northwest College. Throughout his many coaching stints, Call's family has been heavily involved, including last season at Shoreline Christian, when his 7-year-old daughter was a regular at practices and traveled with the team.

“I have a great wife and she loves sports and athletics," Call said. "We really work on balance in our family."

Fundamentally Sound

Calls' passion for teaching is reflected in his philosophy on coaching: Learn the fundamentals. Just as a psychology student needs to understand the basics of the subject in order to succeed, so does a basketball player need to master the fundamentals of basketball in order to win.

Call tested his theory at his previous head coaching stop, Shoreline Christian High School. Presented with a team that was not advanced in the fundamentals category, Call dedicated, in his estimation, two-thirds of practices to fundamental drills, particularly on defense.

“We worked a lot on numbers and stats and showed the guys through film what works and how to buy into it on the defensive end," Call said.

Through his emphasis on the points-per-game system and his players buying into his system, Call turned Shoreline Christian into a defensive squad. In his final season, the Crusaders went 17-5 and gave up just 45 points per game.

"They didn’t have a lot of fundamental skills," Call said of his first team at Shoreline Christian. "In those three years, we worked and worked and worked on fundamentals, mostly on the defensive end.”

Building a Program

Call is taking over an Edmonds-Woodway program that has struggled in recent years. After finishing seventh in the state in 2008, the Warriors have gone 23-43 in the past three seasons. But after back-to-back 6-15 seasons, Edmonds-Woodway posted an 11-13 record in 2010-2011 and has a roster stocked with young talent, including 6-6 incoming sophomore Travis Bakken. Those factors played into Call's decision to take the job.

“That was a big part of it," Call said. "They’ve got size, Travis Bakken will be a sophomore, and in a couple of years I think he’ll be really, really good.”

Call has experience helping a middling program find success, from his time at Shoreline Christian. The Crusaders won just six games in Call's first year, but won 17 in his third, an 11-game turnaround in the span of just two seasons.

Call said that turnaround was a result of his players buying into what he was teaching. Convincing high school kids that results may not come right away can be a difficult task, but Call said the reaction he received during his first  meeting with the Warriors was a positive one.

“It was great," Call said. "Lots of good energy and positivity. I think the guys are excited for what we’re going to be over the next couple of years."

If Call can replicate the kind of turnaround he had at Shoreline Christian, Edmonds-Woodway may find itself back in the state tournament soon.