“This team is going to win next year,” Scot MacAllister said about the Logan County girls basketball team Tuesday morning, a few hours before Finley Baird Woodard was named as his successor. Then he added, “Unless they have a lot of injuries again.”
MacAllister knows first hand what a rash of injuries can do to a team and a season. Not long after transfer center Abbey Hinton was ruled eligible and the Lady Cougars won their historic First Southern National Bank Christmas Classic championship in late December, injuries plagued the 2012-13 team. Junior point guard Laura Hunt missed most of the season with knee and shoulder injuries. Her highly capable backup, freshman Taleia Mason, missed the last month or so with a leg injury. Meagann Hardison, Kapreshia Powell, Megan Lindsey and Katelyn Jones—all among the team’s top seven players—missed portions of the last two months. Now Logan Williamson, who became the starting point guard when her eighth grade season at Olmstead ended, has suffered a major knee injury in AAU ball.
A season that started with great promise ended 11-20 with a 4-11 record in January and February, including
a 69-34 loss to Franklin-Simpson in the 13th District Tournament.
After talking with players, parents and administrators, MacAllister decided to resign, following eight seasons at the Lady Cougar helm.
MacAllister still wants to coach basketball, but the job has to come with certain qualifications. He wants to coach girls and he doesn’t want the school to be very large. “I was contacted about a job in Tennessee with about 4,000 students. That’s just too big for me,” he says. “I like a school about the size of Logan County. I really like it here.”
For eight years, Scot MacAllister, who is a retired military man who moved his family here from California, has made it clear that he liked being part of LCHS. He was the ultimate company guy, doing whatever was needed. When Coach Lee Proctor was one assistant short, he became a football coach. The Cougars won their only playoff game so far this century that year. Lately he’s been the public address announcer for home football games. When an assistant track coach was needed to aid Coach Greg Howard, he was there to help. For several years, he served as sponsor of Cougars for Christ.
MacAllister says many of the things he proudest of during his tenure didn’t happen on the high school court. He created the Logan Ice teams for middle schoolers so they could learn the game during the offseason. He was also a leader in the formation of county-wide Junior Pro leagues instead of the future Cougars and Lady Cougars just playing in their own schools. He organized summer camps. Proceeds from donations from those who attended last year’s camps went to the Bridge Ministry in Nashville to help homeless people.
He worked to create a relationship between LCHS and an Australian Basketball Travel program. Aussie teams have come here at various times to play, sometimes in the FSNB Christmas Classic. Players stay in the homes of Logan Countians, which helps foster international understanding.
A highlight was sharing the National High School Spirit of Sport Award from the National Federation of State High School Associations with Magoffin County High School. The award recognizes those who “exemplify the ideals of the spirit of sport that represent the core mission of education-based athletics.”
The award resulted from LCHS befriending and supporting the Magoffin team at the 2012 state girls basketball tournament in Bowling Green after their community had been devastated by a major storm a few days before.
Magoffin students returned the favor this year by driving all the way across the state to support the Lady Cougars in a home game.
Principal Casey Jaynes said, “I truly appreciate the efforts of Coach MacAllister as he has incorporated several different initiatives at LCHS. The Logan Ice Summer team, the Logan Junior Pro program for our 3-8th grades being incorporated across the county and moved to the high school, helped coordinate the involvement of the high school in the direct hosting of the middle school tournament, put several of our girls basketball athletes in college to play basketball, and won the NFHS National “Spirit of School” Award in combination with Magoffin County.
“Mr. MacAllister also helped me as a young (in terms of experience) assistant principal with advice on dealing with students and all of the other issues facing administrators today with his experience as a middle school assistant principal.”
Among his former Lady Cougars playing college ball have been Kara Haley and Ann Dorris along with Miranda Rone, Jaylin Jones and Markita Pheal, who are currently part of the Mid-Continent University team.
Two of his players who could have played college ball if they had chosen to do so were his daughters, Kayla and Shannon, who had good careers as Lady Cougars but decided they were more interested in preparing for a lifetime career than playing more basketball. Both of them are part of the staff of the Murray State News. Kayla is majoring in English and wants to be a book editor, and Shannon is majoring in public relations and non-profit leadership. Shannon has an internship this summer in New York City.
Their older brother Tim, who played basketball and football at LCHS, has military experience and has been the student coach with Murray State’s highly successful men’s basketball team. A graduate of MSU, he is currently seeking a graduate assistantship with a major college basketball team.
Scot’s wife Lori works in human resources at a Bowling Green plant. The MacAllisters live in Auburn.
Back to the playing court: His best team at LCHS went 18-12 in 2009-10 and won a game at regional. Team leader Sarah Speck was one of those who chose not to pursue playing in college. Jaynes noted, “Many people forget how strong the 13th District has been in basketball over the past few years with Franklin Simpson making runs at the state and in region play.”
His greatest success in coaching has been in the offseason. He has been with the Kentucky Blast AAU program the last three years. His freshman team last year won the state. Hardison, Powell and Hinton were members of that squad. He’s head coach of the junior team this year and assists Coach Bobby Cook with the Blast freshman team which won a state championship last week.
For now, MacAllister plans to continue teaching at LCHS, but the graduate of Cal State University Fresno will keep his eye out for other coaching opportunities.
Whether he is at LCHS or at another school, administrators can count on his being a company man through and through.