Katarski shifts from coaching college to Vikings
Mount Pleasant alumnus Mark Katarski has returned home to take over his alma mater’s boys basketball team, and it is a little bit of a change of pace compared to what he is used to.
The all-time winningest coach of the women’s programs at both Chatham and Seton Hill, Katarski is up for the challenge and realizes this season’s team will be a one-and-done for the players.
“The biggest discipline we have is every season is a one-year team,” he said. “This season will never happen again. This team will never happen again.
“We have to do our best every day to get better. To this point, they have done a really good job and have found ways to improve, and that is good.”
The Vikings return four starters from last year’s team, which went winless, and they are all guards. Gage Vallone and Jordan Gried are seniors while Cole Massari and Kade Hutchinson are juniors.
Katarski doubled down on how hard the team is working.
“We are truly trying to be our best,” he said. “I still don’t know a lot about the group, and I am trying to keep the focus on them.
“Our goal is to stay focused and be where our feet are. The more we can do that, the better chance this group has to succeed.”
The Vikings are in Section 4-AAA along with Brownsville, Charleroi, Ligonier Valley, defending section champion Southmoreland, and Waynesburg.
“The conference is tough,” Katarski said. “Southmoreland had a good year, Waynesburg and Ligonier Valley are good while Charleroi and Brownsville have usually been tough.
“If we say a game is a big game, we are doing disservice to all of the other games.”
A near-perfect storm brought Katarski home to run the program that he once played in.
“It is something that happened professionally,” he said. “I spent 23 years coaching college basketball and two more as the assistant Athletic Director at Seton Hill.
“I am the Director of Parks and Recreation for Westmoreland County, and it worked from a schedule end.
“I coached women in college and thoroughly enjoyed it. To get to coach boys is a different challenge. Coaching at your alma mater, I have a unique appreciation. I understand the fabric of our people.”