Parkview Gets a New Head Basketball Coach

Parkview High School is getting a new boys basketball coach next season.

Nick Gast, the associate head coach of Valdosta State University's men's basketball team, will be replacing the Panthers' current head coach, Steve Richardson. Richardson, who held the position at the school from 1986 to 2000 and then in 2012 as reported by the Gwinnett Daily Post, decided to step down from coaching but will still be teaching at the school, according to Parkview's Athletic Director Mark Whitley.

Gast has a strong history with Valdosta. He played at the college from 1998 to 2002, earned his master's degree, and coached at a few other places before coming back to Valdosta in 2007. Last season was his sixth year as associate head coach.

After all the time spent there, he decided a change of pace might be needed, though.

"I thought that going back and coaching high school was something that I really wanted to do," he told Norcross Patch.

He saw that Parkview had its basketball position open, so he applied. "I just knew about the great athletic tradition that Parkview has."

Gast also believes Gwinnett County would be a good area to settle in for himself, his wife, Traci, and their 7-month-old twins. His wife will be teaching at Arcado Elementary in the fall.

While Parkview strives in many of its sports, boys basketball is something that the school lacks. The team won three games last season, and Gast plans on fixing that.

With the exception of last year, Richardson was Parkview's most successful coach in boys basketball, according to the Gwinnett Daily Post. Gast said he shares many of the same qualities as him.

"He's really put in place some good stuff, and really started to build a good foundation," Gast said. "He and I are a lot alike, so a lot of the stuff that he's already started to instill in those players is a lot of the stuff that I'll try to continue to do. I'm really appreciative to coach Richardson and what he's got started."

At the same time, Gast wants to revamp the system slightly to get more personable with the kids. He described himself as being a hard worker who puts much time and effort into everything on and off the court.

"I want to build an entire program," he said. "I don't want to have just good basketball players. It's important to me that we have good students, that we have good citizens, so the way I like to coach is really just to work with those kids to make them as well-rounded as possible and really just build a program that way ... to make them feel like they're a part of something."

He and his family plan on being in the area by the summer so that he can start training with the team. He also will be teaching at Parkview in the fall since he's certified in health and physical education.

"We're excited that we have a college-level coach," said Whitley. "He's young, so he can grow with the team."

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