HELENA — About a month after legendary Helena Capital basketball coach Bill Pilgeram stepped down to take a head coaching job at Corban University, the lady Bruins have a new leader. And she is no stranger to the program.
Katie Garcin-Forba was announced as the Bruins’ varsity head coach Sunday — a natural move for the program and coach, who moved to Helena in 2010 after a successful playing career at Evergreen State College in Washington and has since climbed the ladder from freshman to junior varsity and now varsity coach with Capital.
“It’s just such a fun group of kids, and I’ve been involved in the program for the last eight years now, and it’s just really hard to not be excited about this opportunity,” Garcin-Forba told MTN Sports.
Even though this is Garcin-Forba’s first time leading at the varsity level, she’s been around the sport and this program long enough to be a natural fit. She’s also had the opportunity to learn from one of the game’s masters.
“Bill was very detail-oriented. He always stressed fundamentals in the program, which I think made the program that much better,” the new head coach said about Pilgeram. “He had a really high ethical and moral character about him and I think that was instilled in the players. There was an expectation. The guy knows his Xs and Os and he is definitely a guru, so all of that experience that I got to take away from him has just been absolutely invaluable. I have a lot of respect for Bill and the program that he is leaving behind, and I’m just excited to take it to that next level.”
Garcin-Forba will try to do that with the level of excitement that she has brought to every level of the game.
“I think that I will bring a lot of energy to our program,” she said. “I think we compete with a high level of intensity and a lot of energy already, but I think I coach with a lot of enthusiasm that allows me to get a lot out of my players, and I look forward to continuing that through. I think we’ve got some really talented kids and they all play really hard, and I think we can get them to where we are competing every single game and every practice and that’s just going to make us better every time.”
