"Ex-coach praises hardworking Hawks...Meneely explains his decision to leave River Ridge after one season" -- July 21, 2006

BY CALEB BREAKEY
THE OLYMPIAN

Brian Meneely quivered a bit as he gathered his River Ridge High School boys basketball team in the Hawks' gym.

It was early June, and Meneely was preparing to tell his players that he was taking the coaching job at Kamiakin High School in Kennewick about one year after committing to the Hawks.

"I was dreading it. I didn't want to disappoint the kids that I felt worked really hard and deserved better," Meneely said. "To have to tell kids that you're leaving and are not going to be able to fulfill your end of the commitment -- that's not an easy thing to do."

Meneely said River Ridge, which finished last season 7-13 overall and 3-13 in the Pacific-9 League, has hungry, hardworking basketball players who shoot more hoops than kids in the eastern part of the state.

The Hawks' passion to win breeds a competitiveness that leads to success, he said.

"I sure hope that my kids here work as hard as the kids at River Ridge did," Meneely said.
"Those kids work extremely hard, and they listen and they do everything that you ask."

Meneely said he couldn't refuse being close to family and coaching in his hometown.

The new Kamiakin coach said he balanced two main aspects in his decision -- his commitment to River Ridge and the coaching job with the Braves.

The pendulum swung toward coaching Kamiakin because Meneely "just wasn't sure if (the job opportunity) would ever come again."

"It's just home," he said. "I have people on my staff now that I've known for 10 or 15 years of my life. It was a chance to go home and be around my family and do something that I love with people that I really care about."

The 25-year-old coach, a 1999 Kennewick graduate, said things started to sink in when he returned from Kamiakin's team camp this year. About 20 people Meneely knew from his youth congratulated him and said they wanted to watch his boys play.

"That was like, 'Wow, this is really cool,' " Meneely said. "I know everybody here."

Steve Biehn, an assistant principal at Kennewick when Meneely suited up for the Lions, said home lured Meneely.

"That was the draw, to get back to family and friends," he said. "They're a very close family."
The Kamiakin coaching job fits Meneely perfectly -- an opportunity that may not come again, Biehn said.

Still, the former Kennewick principal said Meneely faced heartache throughout the transition from River Ridge to Kamiakin.

"It's always difficult to leave a situation, and I'm sure it's difficult on the people he built relationships with, because he's the kind of kid who builds relationships," Biehn said.

Kamiakin approached the Lewis-Clark State College graduate about the job after Braves coach Dennis Rose resigned May 10.

Meneely said he wasn't pursuing another coaching job while with the Hawks.

"It wasn't like I was on the Internet everyday looking for jobs, that wasn't the situation at all," he said.

A former Kennewick basketball player, Meneely said he got close to the basketball players at River Ridge, pouring his heart into the Hawks' basketball program.

"I was hired to come in and help that program and get it going in the right direction, and I don't think that I achieved that," Meneely said. "That was the difficult part, having to leave before I even had a chance to do what I was hired to do."

With the experience gained from coaching at River Ridge -- having been through starting a program and now recognizing problems in advance -- Meneely said he's more comfortable in his new position.

The Braves coach said he'd use that experience to keep Kamiakin's foundation intact.

"You learn things and try things and see what works," Meneely said. "I got a chance to do what I love in my hometown around my family."