Mardela Community Celebrates Life and Service of Legendary Coach and Teacher Barbara McCool

A memorial service for Mardela Middle and High School teacher and coach Barbara McCool, 71, was held in the school gymnasium Saturday, Oct. 31.

She was celebrated in the gym where she had worked tirelessly since 1965, serving Mardela Middle and High School as a physical education teacher, athletic director, and coach of girls basketball and other sports. Coach McCool died at home Wednesday, Oct. 21.

Memorial contributions can be made to Coastal Hospice, PO Box 1733, Salisbury, Maryland 21802. Arrangements are in the care of Holloway Funeral Home, 501 Snow Hill Rd. Salisbury, Maryland 21804.To send condolences to the family visit www.hollowayfh.com.

“I’ve known Coach for about 23 years. I can’t say that I’ve gone a week in those 23 years without having some kind of correspondence with her,” said Tia Jackson, a 1990 Mardela High School graduate and star on its basketball team, now head coach of the University of Washington Huskies in Seattle. Jackson said that what she learned from “Coach” she will “continue to do for the duration of my life. I say I have these McCoolisms in my pocket that I carry with me wherever I go.”

Jackson played in the WNBA in 1997, and worked as assistant coach at several universities before becoming a head coach in 2007. Whether she was a student, player or coach, Jackson could count on McCool to clue her in to the harsh truths and to continue to remind her of life lessons -- about work ethic and commitment to team and teammates -- first learned in the Mardela gym. “Coach” delivered even the sternest message with love.

“I’m standing taller and stronger than I ever would have had she not been present in my world,” Jackson said.

Dave Byrd, Pocomoke High School boys basketball coach and athletic director, traveled with McCool to state basketball meetings for 33 years and knew her even longer. McCool was “an icon, one of a kind,” he said. Known primarily as a girls basketball coach, McCool had also won a state championship in field hockey. She had an unflagging dedication to her school and to her profession as a physical education teacher.

“She was just a great friend and a great example for educators on the Eastern Shore and student-athletes on the Eastern Shore,” Byrd said. “She was the No. 1 female coach and pushed our student-athletes to succeed on the field or court, and more importantly pushed our student-athletes to go on to college and succeed in life.”

Claudia Hudson, a Mardela Middle and High teacher, knew McCool for many years as a fellow member of the Mardela staff and as her daughter’s basketball coach for six years. “I have heard her yell ‘God bless a milk cow!’ so many times that I can’t even say the words without hearing her voice.”

But there are other things Hudson will remember: “She was just like a mother hen, hovering over the girls and making sure they were hydrated and ankles were wrapped and meals were healthy. It was quite an experience. The real moms went along too, but they always let Coach rule because they respected her so much and trusted her to do what was right.” Coach McCool was “a rare breed … hard as nails on the surface, but a real softie underneath,” paying for shoes, camps, uniforms so students wouldn’t miss out on opportunities “because she believed in the kids and she wanted the best for them.” She taught her athletes about truth, commitment, honesty, conviction, sportsmanship, self respect, dedication and work ethic.

At Mardela Middle and High School, Hudson’s daughter Tania was in the capable and challenging hands of Coach McCool. Toward the end of her life, McCool was in the hands of Tania Hudson Reeder, the former student who was now her lung doctor. Coach proudly told anyone who would listen than she had taught her lung doctor everything she knew. “The truth is, Barb always did encourage Tania, and never faltered in her faith in her.”

McCool received a bachelor’s degree from Appalachian College in Boone, N.C., in 1960, and for five years she taught physical education in Virginia school districts. In 1965 she was hired as a teacher for Mardela Middle and High, and she remained there for the rest of her career, serving not only as a teacher but as the athletic director and girls head basketball coach. She also served as head coach of the boys soccer team for three years at a time when a strong coach was needed to rebuild the program. She also coached volleyball and track and field during her career.

“As a head coach, she was a true professional, performing her duties with the utmost efficiency and ability. She was an innovative and dynamic coach, infusing her athletes with tremendous motivation and instilling in them a desire to be the best they can be,” said Ralph Osborne, who as supervisor of athletics for Wicomico County Public Schools supervised Coach McCool for 23 years. Though she coached at one of the smallest high schools in the state, she fostered a tradition of success for her teams and athletes. She was recognized earlier this year for reaching the milestone of 600 career varsity wins, and in 2008-09 was selected as the Maryland District VIII Athletic Director of the Year. Her teams had numerous county, conference and regional titles over the decades.

“While she was demanding of her athletes, she always had their best interests at heart. She nurtured them and encouraged them in all their endeavors,” Osborne said. “Her demands and expectations of her athletes were only surpassed by the demands and expectations she placed on herself. She was like iron, never bending or breaking. In more than 40 years of coaching, she only ever missed one game, and that was due to an emergency stay at the hospital – with guards outside the door, of course, to prevent her leaving for the game.”

Liza Hastings, assistant principal at Bennett Middle School, played for Coach McCool from 1988-92. Unlike Jackson, one of her contemporaries, Hastings did not seem destined for a career in basketball either as a player or coach. That didn’t matter to Coach McCool, who pushed every player to be their personal best no matter what their level of ability. Though Hastings was not a natural athlete, “She never let me use that as an excuse. She taught me to push myself, that you have to have pride, and that you never settle… She pushed, and because of that I pushed, and that translated into academics and other areas of high school, like getting into the SGA (Student Government Association).”

“I have such respect for her, I really do. She’s one of my heroes,” Hastings said.

Ron Wainwright, a Mardela High School history teacher and former Wicomico Teacher of the Year, held Coach McCool in high esteem after knowing her for 25 years and spending 14 years as her assistant coach for soccer, track and basketball. “She sacrificed a lot of her own personal life for the kids and the school,” he said. “I know of no person who has ever put in as much time for the kids and the basketball program and the school as she did – ever.”

“She would do or say anything if it was in the best interest of the kids,” Wainwright said.

The Mardela Middle and High School family and the community will celebrate her life and career even as they mourn her passing. She will be missed by many in Wicomico County and beyond.

“Coach McCool exemplifies our Wicomico County teaching staff in her intense dedication to the success of every student in her care,” said Dr. John Fredericksen, superintendent of schools. “She was the consummate professional in her knowledge of her subjects and students. She spent the time needed not only to bring their skills up to the highest level at which they could achieve, but to give the gift of focused attention to each student who entered her classroom, field or gym. She was a true teacher in the highest sense of the title.”

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