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Thursday, February 20, 1997

Godfather of West Texas girls' basketball rolls on

By MARK BABINECK / Associated Press

LEVELLAND - Dean Weese got "stuck" coaching girls' basketball 38 years ago. Ever since, he's been sticking it to his opponents.

"I was playing semipro baseball and having a pretty good time," Weese said. "Then the superintendent from Spearman came along and said if I went there, he'd get me a (draft) deferment."

The year was 1958, amid the brief peacetime spell between the Korean and Vietnam wars, and Weese merely assumed he was heading into military service.

"Sure enough, he got me a deferment and I went to Spearman and stayed there 15 years," he said. "I coached both boys and girls for a while, but later I had to make a choice."

"I got stuck with girls' basketball, and I've been there ever since."

While the 61-year-old jokes about how he became the dean of girls' basketball in Texas, Weese is serious about winning.

He won three championships at Spearman between 1965-72, then won two amateur titles at Wayland Baptist University in the 1970s. Since coming to Levelland in 1980, he has won six state championships and 16 straight district titles.

Starting with a job he practically accepted on a lark, Weese helped lay the groundwork for girls basketball in this part of the country.

"He's been the most important factor in my career," said Texas Tech coach Marsha Sharp, who got her first coaching break under Weese at Wayland Baptist in the 1970s. "I've said many times the things I learned from him at Wayland have impacted me every single day. The fundamental skills I learned and things he instilled in people that it took to make them winners have been things I've tried to emulate my whole career."

Some counterparts refuse to accept Weese's basic coaching philosophy that's led to a 1,162-179 career record, he said.

"I think I didn't coach them any different than I coached boys," he said. "A lot of people told me you can't coach them the same way, but the same people that have been telling me that haven't been winning, and I have."

His West Texas success sent him globe-trotting in the late 1970s at Wayland Baptist, the Plainview school that was a major national women's collegiate force from the 1950s through Weese's tenure.

He coached a series of all-star games in the Soviet Union in 1975, and took the Queens on a road trip to Hong Kong three years later.

Following a one-season stint with the Dallas Diamonds of the ill-fated Women's Basketball League, Weese found himself looking to the high school ranks once again.

"My son lost his playing eligibility when we moved to Plano (for the Dallas job), and when I was getting ready to leave I was told he wasn't going to be eligible the next year in Texas," Weese said.

Mistakenly thinking he had to leave the state to preserve son Todd's ability to play high school ball, Weese interviewed for the boys' job in Portales, N.M.

"The superintendent at Levelland tracked me down some way and called me while I was in Portales, and he wanted to know if I'd talk to them," Weese said. "That's how I got to Levelland."

The girls' program here had never done anything until Weese's arrival. Since 1981, the Loboettes have gone 499-55.

Weese's basketball principles are simple: defense, pinpoint execution and fundamentals.

"When I watch (Levelland's) games, I may as well be watching our Wayland team back when I played," said Kathy Harston, an assistant coach at Texas and a Flying Queen under Weese.

Weese has found a home in Levelland, and the people here have responded in kind. His name appears prominently on the sign leading into town proclaiming the Loboettes' six state titles.

"I've been offered several jobs since I've been here," he said. "We like it here. I don't know how much longer I'm going to coach, but I'm pretty sure I'm not going anywhere."

Senior post Missy Frazier, barely bigger than a basketball herself when Weese came to town, can't imagine her hometown before Weese arrived.

"Oh yeah," she said with a frown. "It would be lots different."Send a Letter to the Editor about This Story | Start or Join A Discussion about This Story
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