Falcons women’s basketball greet Virginia Watson as new head coach

By Gina Rogers

Former Falcons assistant coach Virginia Watson is hoping to turn the women’s basketball teams’ season around after it was left in the lurch by former head coach Curtis Nelson.

Watson is the first female head coach since Morgan Kyle who last coached the women’s team for the 1996-97 season.

Following the unexpected departure of Nelson last week, Watson took over the position in an interim role. Coach Nelson resigned his position as head of the women’s basketball team for personal reasons and on mutually agreeable terms. Virginia joined the Falcons staff at the same time as Nelson at beginning of the 2018-19 season.

It hasn’t been an easy start for Watson, a former Falcon and PACWEST rookie of the year, nor for her Falcons who lost back-to-back games this weekend. After losing to Vancouver Island University, the top-ranked team in the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association last Saturday.

Falcon, Meagan Briggs, spoke about what the 100-84 loss shows about where the team stands.

“It all came down to hustle plays, which [VIU] got a lot of,” Briggs said. “But, I’m really excited to see them in the second half of the season because I think playing them shows us where we need to be in the second half.”

According to Langara’s athletic director Jake McCallum, Watson, who played collegiate basketball for five seasons, has the character to coach this women’s team because she knows how to navigate, “the bumps, bruises and team dynamics.”

The Falcons women’s basketball team has had many head coaches over the years, but it’s been decades since their last female head coach.

“It’s nice to have a female coach for a female program. It’s difficult to find female coaches,” McCallum said.

McCallum believes that Watson has what it takes to win, and it will take wins for Watson to keep her job. When asked if she would like to continue being the head coach after this season, Watson made her opinion clear.

“I’d love it,” she said.