Daughter-father coaching duo has been a winning formula for Marshall girls basketball team

Posted by author January 29, 2025 Basketball

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MARSHALL – As a mom with three young children, Taylor Sundell enjoys it when her dad comes to town to visit his grandkids.

As the head coach of the Marshall girls basketball team, Sundell also likes it when her dad comes to games to visit her team and brings along his 40-plus years of high school coaching experience.

Sundell made a key addition to her coaching staff this season, asking in her dad Paul Chapman to join the program. The daughter-father combination is a unique backdrop to Marshall’s successful season this year, as the Redhawks are a contender in the Interstate 8 Conference race. Sundell has Marshall at 9-3 as her young team has taken the next step, matching last season’s win total already, after the Redhawks finished the regular season at 9-13 last year.

“He has a wealth of knowledge. He knows more about basketball than anyone I know,” Sundell said. “Since I started coaching, we would always have nightly phone conversations, breaking things down, bouncing ideas off each other.

“He retired from coaching after last season. But I knew he would never be done with basketball. So, I figured he could come here and help, me learning from him, the girls learning from him. It has been a bonus for us to have him here.”

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Sundell is a third-generation basketball coach. She is in her second year as the head coach for Marshall at the varsity level and was a sub-varsity coach in the program before that.

And, even before that, she was a water girl on the bench when her dad was a head coach in the Holland area.

“My dad has been a coach my whole life,” Sundell said. “He was the boys coach when I was in school. I grew up being the water girl for his teams. And, later, when I was playing, he would coach me in the summer. A lot of our relationship, beyond father-daughter, has been centered around basketball.”

Chapman had a similar experience growing up. His father Wayne Chapman was also a basketball coach for decades, which included stops at Springfield High School in the 1960s, as well as Battle Creek Central.

“I was a ball boy on his team at Springfield that went to the state semifinals,” Paul Chapman said.

Paul Chapman also started his coaching career in the Battle Creek area, coaching his first two years in the 1980s for Family Altar Christian School, which is now called Calhoun Christian. Last year, he retired from coaching after 44 seasons, most recently at Holland West Ottawa, where he still helps coach.

“It was just time for me to step away. I wanted to be done being a head coach,” Chapman said.

With some time on his hands, Sundell had the idea to have her dad join her on the bench.

“Even before this season, he would watch our films and we would talk about the games and he would have some things he saw,” Sundell said. “So, now that he’s retired, he is with me as an assistant. He still lives in Holland, but he comes to games, comes to practices.

“He gets to see his grandkids when he comes down here. He gets to be around basketball still, gets to be around his grandkids. I know, down the road, he will look back at this time fondly.”

Making the decision to spend more time with his grandchildren was the easy part. Deciding to be an assistant coach again after more than 30 years of being a head coach was more of a transition.

“I didn’t know how it was going to work out or how we would mesh together,” Chapman said. “It’s hard for me to sit on the bench and be mild because I was a head coach for so many years. That’s been my biggest adjustment.

“But it’s worked well. She doesn’t need a lot from me during games or on the bench, she knows what she is doing, she’s a good coach. I try to help more with scouting reports, behind the scenes stuff. That’s where my experience helps a little.”

Sundell said early discussions on how their dynamic would work has been key to the successful partnership.

“He has been a head coach for a long time, and he naturally wants to still be that head coach when we are in the gym. So, we had to work through that early, talk about how we were going to work together, and what expectations were going to be with him being as assistant,” Sundell said. “It’s working well. His presence has helped our girls step up to another level. I think they are getting a lot out of it.”

Bill Broderick can be reached at bbroderi@battlecreekenquirer.com. Follow him on X/Twitter: @billbroderick