By CASEY OLSON

The Mirror

Another year, another coach.

Kevin Rawie became the Decatur High School girls basketball program’s fourth head coach in the past six years when he accepted the position on Monday.

Rawie coached the Kentridge girls basketball team for the past four seasons before resigning in mid-April. He took the Chargers to the postseason in each of his seasons at the helm.

“A lot of different things attracted me to the Decatur job,” he said. “I watched the kids play during the summer and they are a real coachable group. Their record over the last couple years didn’t reflect how good they could have been.”

The Decatur girls basketball program is a combined 4-37 during the past two seasons under former coach Brad Tait, including an 0-20 year in 2004-05.

“I’m just looking for a new challenge,” Rawie said. “And staying in the (South Puget Sound League) is one thing that drew me to the position. I really didn’t want to enter into a new league. I am familiar with the coaches and that makes it a little easier for me.”

Decatur will be playing in the SPSL North Division starting in the fall, along with Federal Way, Thomas Jefferson, Kentridge, Kentwood, Kent-Meridian, Kentlake and Tahoma high schools.

“It’s going to be a really interesting league,” Rawie said. “Losing a powerhouse like Auburn Riverside kind of ups the ante a little bit. But Kentwood should be the best of the bunch. It’s really going to be an interesting mix.”

Rawie said he hopes to get a teaching position at Decatur and also plans to apply for athletic director of the school, which is being vacated by Bill Heglar. Heglar will stay on as football coach, but return to teaching full time after one year as the athletic director.

Rawie attended Green River Community College before receiving his bachelor’s degree from the University of Washington in 1981. He graduated from Mount Rainier High School in Des Moines.

His coaching resume includes stops as an assistant at the American School in Guadalajara, Mexico, from 1982-84. He then worked as the assistant boys coach at Mount Rainier from 1986-97 before taking the head girls job at Mount Rainier from 1997-99. Rawie then worked as the head boys basketball coach at Hazen High School from 1999-2001 before coaching Kentridge for the past four seasons.

Sports editor Casey Olson: 925-5565, sports@fedwaymirror.com

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