H.S. Sports Central

This is a great time to be a basketball coach at St. Joseph High School, according to Dan Slain, who was hired in May to coach the girls team.

"Everything in life is timing, and the timing was exceptional," said Slain, 58.

St. Joseph opened its new gym last December after spending several seasons practicing and playing at off-campus locations. Also, St. Joseph recently used grant money to stock a weightroom that looks out over the basketball court.

And it doesn't hurt that Slain inherited a team that will feature senior point guard Jacqi Diez, who averaged 25.9 points per game last season and was named the Valley News Dispatch Girls Basketball Player of the Year.

Slain replaced Larry Barkowski, who resigned after nine seasons.

"Coach Barkowski didn't leave the cupboard bare," Slain said. "The program has been established. It's sort of like Christmas morning. The talent is there."

Even though St. Joseph is a small Class A school, it's still larger than where Slain coached last season. Slain coached the girls team at Aquinas Academy, which is located in Gibsonia.

Aquinas, which had an enrollment of 26 girls last year, will join the WPIAL this coming season after playing an exhibition schedule last winter. Meanwhile, St. Joseph was the third smallest Class A school in the WPIAL with 66 girls last season.

Slain guided Aquinas to a 12-9 record last season, but he also got to know the St. Joseph girls. The teams played a preseason scrimmage and two regular-season games, which St. Joseph won, 47-26 and 49-15. The players also attended a Pitt women's basketball game together.

Slain expects to have about 14 players in the ninth-12th grade, including four seniors.

"They're great kids," Slain said. "I got to know them well. I respect coach Barkowski. We became good friends."

In Barkowski's last season, St. Joseph went 10-12 overall and 4-8 in Section 4-A, which also produced WPIAL champion North Catholic, WPIAL runner-up Mt. Alvernia and semifinalist Vincentian Academy.

St. Joseph athletic director Kate Barkowski, Larry's daughter, said the Catholic school in Natrona Heights received about 20 applications for the head coach position.

"We played Aquinas in a scrimmage at the beginning of the (2008-09) season," Barkowski said. "And when we played them at the end of the season, they were a completely different team. I was impressed with that."

Barkowski added that Slain, who also coaches AAU basketball, is energetic and has attended numerous camps and coaching clinics to improve his knowledge.

Slain played basketball and baseball at South Hills before going on to letter for four years in baseball at Pitt. Slain, a third baseman, was teammates with Ken Macha, who manages the Milwaukee Brewers.

Slain and St. Joseph will play host to a summer camp for girls in the third-eighth grade July 27-30. The guest instructor will be April McDivitt-Foster, who played in the WNBA.

Kate Barkowski believes St. Joseph has found the right coach to lead the Spartans into a new era.

"He definitely fits with our mission values," she said.

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