Monday, July 16, 2018

Hometown History II-2 New Jims For Wa-Hi Gym

Apparently, the Walla Walla school board took the petition circulated by a group of local citizens very seriously, as the fall of 1975 saw Wa-Hi with a full slate of new coaches.  Jim Thacker, who had incredible success coaching at smaller high schools in the Northwest,  was hired as head boys basketball coach, along with Jim Meredith, a well known WSU basketball standout who would be Thacker's assistant.  
Thacker and Meredith were emblematic of a new era of young, upwardly mobile coaches that would be hired at high schools and colleges.  There ranks would include, Dennis Erickson, Pete Carroll, etc.  Thacker got off to a rocky start in his first, but did get the team into the playoffs (with a regular season record under .500) where they placed number 8 in the state. 

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