web1_119332630-b94a8b30fa87431fa506af8ba958e2ba.jpg

Billy Bush says Trump ‘Access Hollywood’ tape is real

web1_greenridgemile2.jpg

Annual race Green Ridge Mile going strong after 36 years in Scranton

<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; The last time the Wyoming Valley Conference saw Chris Parker, he was coaching the Holy Redeemer girls basketball team to a third straight state quarterfinal game.</p><p>The team he&#8217;s with now would be thrilled with three consecutive wins.</p><p>Yet, Parker&#8217;s every bit as excited about coaching a rebuilding Hanover Area team as he was building Redeemer into a perennial state power as he returns to the WVC after a year&#8217;s absence.</p><p>He&#8217;s even talking championship again.</p><p>&#8220;I think this team will have an opportunity to compete for a District 2 title this year,&#8221; Parker said of the Hawkeyes during the WVC Girls Basketball Media Day on Sunday at Norm&#8217;s Pizza.</p><p>The last time Hanover Area won any kind of title, the team was led by since-graduated Asdone Hooper and Haley Bobos &#8212; who were just kids coming into their own while taking the Hawkeyes to the 2014 WVC Division 3 championship. Hanover Area jumped up to play in the league&#8217;s Division 2 the next year, and the program hasn&#8217;t been a big factor in the league since.</p><p>Parker plans to change that.</p><p>&#8220;People who know me know I&#8217;m a very competitive person,&#8221; said Parker, a former Division III college star who led Wilkes to the first of its four NCAA Elite Eight appearances and rolled up over 100 victories in five years coaching Holy Redeemer. &#8220;A very fiery coach.&#8221;</p><p>He&#8217;s one of four fresh faces leading programs in the WVC, with three of them in the league&#8217;s six-team Division 3.</p><p>Along with Parker at Hanover Area, Scott Miner takes over a Northwest team that will try to defend its Division 3 title from a year ago and Cy Fulton will attempt to rebuild an MMI Prep program that folded just before the start of the league season last year due to a lack of players.</p><p>The other new coach is a name more familiar to boys basketball.</p><p>John Quinn III, the son of Coughlin&#8217;s retired legendary coach and Wilkes-Barre Area school board member John Quinn Jr., will guide the Crusaders&#8217; girls program.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;m trying to build a program, I&#8217;m trying to teach the game to the kids,&#8221; said Quinn III, who played under his dad on the boys team.</p><p>He certainly has the knowledge, and for tips, his father &#8212; a fiery figure for decades on the school&#8217;s boys sideline &#8212; will be around to lend some advice.</p><p>Don&#8217;t expect much outrage on the bench from the younger Quinn, though.</p><p>&#8220;He&#8217;s a different personality,&#8221; his dad smiled.</p><p>Parker&#8217;s just smiling over another opportunity.</p><p>He became a controversial but wildy successful figure guiding his elite Redeemer teams to four straight WVC crowns, two PIAA semifinal appearances and a third quarterfinal run, along with a District 2 Class 2A title. Yet, his program was put on probation twice by the District 2 committee and he drew heat for Redeemer ringing up over 100 points on MMI Prep in 2014-15 during a lopsided victory.</p><p>Parker wasn&#8217;t rehired by the Redeemer administration last season, and replaced by rookie high school head coach John Jezorwski &#8212; who guided the Royals to the District 2 Class 2A title and to the second round of states.</p><p>Parker&#8217;s no stranger to leading struggling public school programs, though.</p><p>His coaching career began at GAR, which doesn&#8217;t seem to pack its bench with players and does well to stay in the upper half of divisional teams in the WVC. Parker will take on a similar situation with the Hawkeyes, who won just three games last season.</p><p>&#8220;I can guarantee you we&#8217;ll have more wins,&#8221; Parker said. &#8220;Coaching the public school kid is a lot different than coaching at Holy Redeemer. I&#8217;m shocked kids didn&#8217;t know things I thought they would. I&#8217;m having to strip the program down to basic fundamentals. I want kids to learn the basics. I&#8217;m starting from scratch. Obviously, it&#8217;s a challenge. But I&#8217;m up for that challenge.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;m just excited to be back.&#8221;</p><style>
.neFileBlock {
	margin-bottom: 20px;
}
.neFileBlock p {
	margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px;
}
.neFileBlock .neFile {
	border-bottom: 1px dotted #aaa;
	padding-bottom: 5px;
	padding-top: 10px;
}
.neFileBlock .neCaption {
	font-size: 85%;
}
</style>
<div class='neFileBlock'>
<div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/web1_wvc1_faa.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Berwick coach Bill Phillips (left, standing) opens the Wyoming Valley Conference Girls Basketball Coaches Association press conference on Sunday at Norm&#8217;s Pizza in Wilkes-Barre. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/web1_wvc1_faa.jpg</photo0><caption0>Berwick coach Bill Phillips (left, standing) opens the Wyoming Valley Conference Girls Basketball Coaches Association press conference on Sunday at Norm&#8217;s Pizza in Wilkes-Barre. </caption0><photoCredit0>Fred Adams | For Times Leader </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Paul Sokoloski</p><p>psokoloski@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Paul Sokoloski at 570-991-6392 or on Twitter @TLPaulSokoloski</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Parker returns to WVC with different team, similar goals for success