Marcus McKinney will once again dedicate his full attention to Wakefield High School rather than taking time elsewhere after being hired as the new head girls basketball coach.
McKinney was a full-time teacher at Wakefield for 26 years and graduated from Arlington in 1989. For many past winters, McKinney has served as head basketball coach or assistant basketball coach at other metro area high schools. When a position opened up for her to return as the women's head coach at Wakefield, McKinney jumped at the chance.
Previously, she was Wakefield's women's head coach from 2000 to 2005.
“I'm very excited to be back,” McKinney said. “We have a lot of talented players here and they are eager to learn and succeed. It's special to be in this building.”
McKinney replaces Jacqueline Vesey, who coached the Warriors the past two seasons. Last season, Wakefield fielded a young team and struggled to win against Liberty District opponents with an overall record of 3-18 and 0-13.
“I'm looking forward to developing and coaching the players,” McKinney said. “We'll start everything in a few weeks.”
When McKinney attended Wakefield, he played boys varsity basketball under former head coach, the late Bob Verdran.
After leaving the Wakefield women's head coaching position after the 2004-05 season, McKinney coached as head or assistant at Bliss School in Maryland, then at Edison, Annandale and Alexandria City high schools in Northern Virginia. He served as a coach. His women's team won the league championship at Bliss. Last season, McKinney served as an assistant coach for Wakefield's freshman boys basketball team.
Note: When McKinney was Wakefield girls coach in 2002, his team was the last to beat the Edison Eagles. Since that win, Wakefield has lost 54 straight games to Edison, according to Wakefield sports historian Frank Haddock.