SEATTLE – Karen Byers grew up playing lots of basketball. But she never saw herself coaching it.
 
Then, what started out as simply an offer to help out with her daughter's club team turned into a calling.
 
That calling now has brought Byers to Seattle Pacific, where she will serve as an assistant for fifth-year head coach Mike Simonson.
 
Byers comes to the Falcons from Bainbridge Island High School, a ferry ride across Puget Sound from Seattle (and she takes that ferry daily). She served the past four years as the Spartans' head girls coach, and prior to that was a boys varsity assistant coach for two years.
 
"I have a passion for coaching and for athletics and for youth sports," Byers said. "Once I started coaching basketball, I thought, 'Man, I would love to be a collegiate coach someday.' I just put that in the back of my head that maybe someday, that was a possibility."

The 44-year-old Byers works with the guards and brings a focus on offense and skill development.
 
She also brings another particular quality that Simonson is delighted to have on his staff.

 

"It's such an honor to coach with someone who has been a head coach and being able to have someone on staff who can relate to what it's like to be a head coach and can give really good feedback on how to structure practices and building up some things," he said. "She brings a lot to the table."
 
It was Byers' daughter, Ana, who indirectly got her into coaching. Ana had earned a spot on the Bainbridge Island Roots club select team, and her two coaches there also coached at the high school level. As Byers recalls it, they sometimes had to miss practice because of high school commitments, "so I said, 'Hey, I used to play – do you want me to help?'"
 
The answer was 'yes', and Byers eventually wound up taking over that team.
 
"I came home one day, and said, 'I love this – it's fantastic!," recalled Byers, whose husband, John, previously had encouraged her to consider coaching.
 
A native of Portland, Byers has been at SPU for just a few weeks, but already has gotten into the groove of a new season.
 
"I love that I get to come to work and get to watch film and put down what we did at practice," she said. "I think about different ball handling or skill drills we could do. It has been fantastic."
 
Added Simonson, "I truly believe that Karen is a perfect fit for our team and what we needed right now. … To get a coach as seasoned and as confident and as qualified as Karen has been such a delight."

In addition to daughter Ana, Byers and her husband have a son, Dane.
 
The Falcons play an exhibition game at Division I Idaho on Sunday, tipping off at 2:00 p.m. It will not have a live Webcast or live stats. A home exhibition against Pacific Lutheran is set for next Saturday, Nov. 5, at 4:00 p.m. in Brougham Pavilion.