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Saturday, April 8, 2000

Former King coach Medina vows to stick by retirement choice

By George Vondracek
Caller-Times

Come October, when high school basketball coaches roll out the balls for the start of preseason drills, Julie Medina figures the itch will be there.
   It is no wonder, since the sport has been a major part of her 40 years.
   But after consuming a large part of her life for 26 years, Medina is steadfast in her decision to ignore the inevitable itch and walk away. She reaffirmed her decision at a small, informal news conference Friday, at which her retirement as the King High School girls basketball coach was formally announced.
   "This is it. No backs," Medina said.
   In 14 seasons as head coach, Medina compiled a 296-126 record with the Lady Mustangs. She helped lead them to five district championships, nine playoff berths and an appearance in the Class 5A state championship game in 1993.
   "It really hurts to see someone like her depart," said Richard Avila, the Corpus Christi Independent School District athletic director who called Medina "a Corpus Christi icon."
   Medina won't be back, citing a desire to spend more time with her sons Cole, a freshman at Calallen, and Tyler, a sixth-grader. Her decision, regretted by her colleagues, has been supported.
   "I've had nothing but the utmost praise and respect as a parent, and that's solely what this is based on," Medina said. "Four or five years from now, when Cole gets ready to go away, I don't want to say, 'What have I missed?' "
   King athletic coordinator and football coach Jim Elam said he supports Medina's decision - with a proviso; Elam, too, returned to King after a six-year stint in the same position at Moody.
   "It's one of the primary reasons I came over here, to be with my daughter," said Elam, whose daughter Jentry is a junior at King. "I'm happy for Julie and her decision. But how do you replace someone like that? It's going to be a real process to replace her."
   Medina beat cancer 10 years ago after being diagnosed with lymphoblastic lymphoma, a type of cancer that affects lymphoid tissue. Healthy now, she said her decision has nothing to do with the cancer.
   Twenty-one of Medina's players at King went on to college with scholarships, including six at the Division I level. It is the memories of coaching those players, and the others who didn't go on to post-high school play, that Medina said she would hold closest.
   "Absolutely, the numbers of just fantastic kids I've had," said Medina, 40. "I've coached some of the most outstanding kids, fantastic people with tremendous work habits. And I think that's what I tried to do, to get the most out of an athlete, both as an individual and as a team. That was important to me."
  

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Staff writer George Vondracek can be reached at 886-3731 or by e-mail at vondracekg@caller.com

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