By MARK MOSCHETTI
Seattle Pacific Sports Information
SEATTLE – Learning to play basketball isn't as easy as just flipping a switch. Nor is winning a game.
Or making the NCAA Tournament.
But to longtime SPU volunteer assistant coach George Parker, the most satisfying part of his job is when a switch seems to flip inside the head of any of the hundreds upon hundreds of players with whom he has worked over the course of nearly four decades.
"Basketball teaches you about a lot of things – time management, conflict, conflict resolution, diversity, adversity – and how do you handle all of these things?" Parker said. "You're teaching this to them. When you see a light bulb go off in their head, that's where my joy comes in. 'Is that what it was about, Coach P? OK, I got it.'
"I can talk to all of the guys and they think, 'I have success. I'm succeeding. I feel good about myself.' So it's that light bulb that goes off and that's what excites me."
Parker and the rest of the Falcons are aiming to keep those lights burning bright this week when they head to San Diego for the NCAA Division II West Region Tournament. Not since 2020 has SPU gotten this far,
As the No. 8 seed in the field of eight after winning last week's Great Northwest Athletic Conference Tournament to gain an automatic entry, the Falcons will tangle with No. 1 seed and host Point Loma Nazarene.
Tip-off on Friday inside Golden Gymnasium is set for 5:00 p.m.
At stake is a spot Saturday's semifinal round against the winner of No 4 Biola vs. No. 5 Cal State San Bernardino.
"What's special about this team is that we're young but talented," said the 70-something Parker (when asked, he wouldn't say what his age actually is) "We only had two players returning from (last year's) starting lineup, and that's Trace Evans and Owen Moriarty.
"What I like about this team is we had to learn how to win," he added. "That's called chemistry, and that takes time."
BUMPY START, BUT THEN …
It certainly did take time for the Falcons. By mid-December, they were 2-8 overall, 1-8 against West Region opponents.
Even with plenty of games still to play over the final two months of the regular season, that was a huge hole.
"We had the talent, we were close, we're a team that never quits," Parker said. "But we just didn't know how to win. We knew how to win individually – but individually isn't going to win the game. Then it comes down to 'I gotta do it, I gotta do it I gotta do it.'
Keffrey Fazio (right) is the sixth head coach under whom
George Parker has served during 37 seasons with the Falcons.
"We have to do it together and you have to trust your teammates," he continued. "Instead of going rogue, you make the extra pass."
Under the direction of head coach Keffrey Fazio and assistants Donald Rollman and David Choi, players were given clearly defined roles. Once that happened, "they began to trust in one another and trust the plan," Parker said.
The plan began to work.
SPU was battling back and forth on the road against No. 22 Saint Martin's in the first game back after Christmas break and had a three-point lead with 13:19 to play. Then the Saints put together an 18-0 run on the way to a 73-51 victory.
Just two nights later at Western Oregon, the Falcons bounced back convincingly, rolling past the Wolves, 81-68. That started a stretch of 10 wins in their next 12 games, the last seven of which were consecutively from Jan. 23 through Feb. 13.
"The first sign of it we saw was down at Saint Martin's. We were playing very well and then all of sudden, took a back step," Parker said. "Again, it was about trusting one another and hunting the plan. Then the next game, we destroyed Western Oregon. I think that was when we started believing in ourselves.
"At Saint Martin's that's where we saw it. Then we got to Western Oregon and we did it," he added.
MORE THAN AN X'S AND O'S GUY
Parker has been around basketball long enough – all aspects of it.
He has played the game, graduating from Saint Martin's in 1971 as one of that program's all-time top scorers, and later was drafted by the Portland Trail Blazers. He has scouted the game at the NBA level for several years when he was with the Seattle SuperSonics.
And of course, Parker has coached the game, starting as a graduate assistant and volunteer assistant on Terry Holland's staff at Virginia from 1979-83. He first came to Seattle Pacific as an assistant to head coach Claude Terry for the 1986-87 season. He returned to the Falcons in 1989-90, and, except for a three-year period when he was coaching the Shorecrest High School girls team (1995-98) has been here ever since.
During all those years, he has worked under six head coaches: Claude Terry (1986-87 and 1989-90), Ken Bone (1990-91 through 2001-01), Jeff Hironaka (2002-03 through 08-09), Ryan Looney (2009-10 through 15-16), Grant Leep (2016-17 through 22-23) and Fazio (since 2023-24).
Henry Sandberg was going through a shooting slump,
but worked with George Parker to get back on track.
If Parker wanted to, he could have a huge hand in strategy and game planning. But his strong suit has been, and continues to be, player development. In a nutshell, that means focusing on the mental side of becoming a top-caliber competitor..
"I could do X's and O's, sure," he said. "But when we have assistant coaches, I know my role. I work on their heads, the psychological standpoint. I bring encouragement to them.
"Case in point: Henry (Sandberg, a freshman guard) was struggling with shooting. I said, 'I'm not going to change his shot, but show him what he's doing wrong. I showed him, and then he goes up to Anchorage and finally, the light bulb went off: 'So this is what Coach P was talking about'
Henry Sandberg
In that game against the Seawolves, Sandberg scored 13 points on 5-of-9 shooting, with 3 of 7 from downtown. Those long ones came consecutively during a 5½-minute stretch late in the first half to help the Falcons push their lead into double digits on the way to an 83-74 victory.
"Coach P, with all the knowledge he has for the game, made just subtle, slight adjustments – not even in my shot, but in my thinking and thought process," Sandberg said. "Those little things changed my confidence. That Anchorage game, I got back to the basics, and with a good, confident mindset, I knocked down a couple of shots. You see a few go through the hoop, and the hoop starts to get a little bigger."
Sandberg and Parker connected after the game.
"He came up to me and said, 'Hey, way to shoot it,' Sandberg said. "I just said, 'Coach P, that's all you.'"
IT'S ALL ABOUT CONNECTING
But players aren't the only ones picking up pointers from Parker.
So too are the SPU coaches.
"We get so consumed by the winning and losing every single game," Fazio said. "What his career has shown me and shown my staff is that there's so much more to coaching these players than just success on the court. It's all the moments in the locker room and on the bus rides and in the hallways. He never misses an opportunity to connect with a player in key moments.
"What I've learned is that coaching is a full-time job, but it's an every-minute job," Fazio added. "He has such great perspective with that, and he does it with so much class and grace."
When he's not busy connecting with players, Parker often can be found in
Falcon Lounge at halftime connecting with SPU season ticket holders.
Like coaches everywhere at every level, Parker wears multiple hats – most of which have nothing to do with X's and O's.
"A coach could be a dad, a father – that's a big thing, said Parker, who has two children and eight grandchildren. "You teach, you mentor. You're teaching about the game of basketball. You're mentoring – I call it fathering. You're coveting them, building them up, tearing them down, and building them up again."
Parker prides himself on being relational, someone who can connect to everyone with whom he comes into contact. He is that way whether it's in his position at Boeing, where he leads a team of engineers, scientists, and technical analysts, or inside the gym with the Falcons.
"I have a rule when I meet with people when they come into my office (at Boeing)," Parker said "I ask them two questions: How are you doing? And then, how are you really doing? When I ask the first question, you're going to tell me what I want to hear: 'Oh, I'm living the dream.' That second question is when I find out how they're doing."
"I have execs who come in and want to talk, and I listen to them," Parker continued. "I guess it's my personality. Sometimes, I go to meetings that I don't want to go to, and I say, 'Why do you invite me?' And they say, 'Because when you're here, it's peaceful."
When he gets to the gym .. well, that's a sort of therapy time – for Parker.
"It allows me to do some things. I'm just thankful to be able to pass things on," he said. "And it's not just the guys. I'll also work with women as well as working with the guys. We get together and practice. Mainly what we talk about is what's in your head and how do you see yourself?"
"UNIQUE SITUATION, UNIQUE TEAM"
It's game time. The Falcons have found their stride again, shaking out of some late-season doldrums to reach the Division II dance.
Heading into last week's GNAC Tournament at Saint Martin's, the only way for Seattle Pacific to make the NCAAs was to win three games in three days – a span of about 55 hours – in Lacey.
They did precisely that: an 81-47 rout of Alaska Fairbanks in the first round, a gritty 73-68 decision against No. 2 seed Northwest Nazarene in the semifinals, and a wire-to-wire 72-61 victory against No. 1 seed and regular-season champion Central Washington in the final, that after losing both regular-season contests to the Wildcats.
"When we played Central, it wasn't like revenge. We just wanted to play basketball and do what we had to do to win the game," Parker said. "That's what we did: hunt the plan, play together, share the basketball, make the extra pass – and we just kept doing it over and over."
That made it five conference finals for SPU – and five titles. Parker has been on the bench and in the locker room for all five of them, knowing exactly when to speak up and what to say when he does.
"He has a way of finding the moment," Fazio said. "He doesn't talk a lot. He certainly has a voice but isn't someone who's always looking for something to say. He's looking for that opportune moment, whether for the collective team or an individual player. It really resonates when he does speak."
On paper, at least, the Falcons will be the underdog in San Diego. But in Parker's mind, there's every reason to believe they can make a run here.
"This is a very unique situation, a very unique team," he said. "Everybody counted us out and didn't have anything good to say about us until we started winning.
"Now we're playing well and nobody wants to play us."
As he sees it, this squad might even be better than the team that got to San Diego in 2020 – when Point Loma also was the host – but then never got to play when the tournament was canceled at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.
"They've got a goal, they have a purpose," he said. "It's more than just winning. It's about winning, but it's more than that. We're just looking forward to the opportunity. We pray before every game, we pray after the game. We're thankful for the opportunity and to have an opportunity to play again."
For George Parker – er, make that Coach P – it's more than just another opportunity to play again.
It's an opportunity to see another light bulb or two go off.
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