It may seem a bit early for basketball talk given that it’s not March, but hold on because there is good reason to do so.

Over the summer major changes happened to both the men’s and women’s programs, as both teams experienced a change in coaching staff. In early June, former men’s coach Kevin Roller resigned from his post in a rather unexpected turn of events, and accepted the job at district rival, Madison.

“I had no idea he was even thinking about taking the Madison job, he just called me into his office out of the blue and let me know. It was really disappointing,” senior power forward Michael Anthony said.

With the head coaching job for McLean’s men’s team vacant, speculation began as to who would take Rollers place at the helm of the schools most popular winter sport.

“I thought for sure it was going to be the assistant coach from Marshall,” senior center Alex Glissman said.

It turned out to be McLean’s very own Michael O’Brien. A familiar face on campus, O’Brien has worked both as a teacher and the girl’s varsity basketball coach for many years. The decision seems like an easy one as O’Brien has helped his teams experience great success both athletically and academically. The girl’s basketball squad has regularly appeared in the top ten varsity sports teams for average GPA, and also made it to the district championship game this past winter.

“It feels like no one wants to coach us,” senior guard Camilla Prock joked.

While the girl’s team has not yet named a new head coach, the players are certain that the next coach is in the ranks of the well qualified assistants they have on staff.

Both teams, while suffering the harsh transition from one coach to another, have been better off, due to their familiarity with the new coaches. And, with both teams returning many players from last years championship appearance teams, they hope to do well with not only the new districts, but also the new head coaches.