Catching Up With: Former Lehigh assistant Matt Logie hits ground running as coach at Whitworth University

Matt Logie faced a difficult decision.

Should he stay or should he go?

While leaving his alma mater would be tough, it was an opportunity he couldn?t pass up.

Logie, Lehigh University?s ninth leading scorer and the team?s top assistant coach and associate head coach, left the Mountain Hawks and in May 2011 was named head men?s basketball coach at Whitworth University in Spokane, Wash.

?My playing career, education and professional experience at Lehigh have been instrumental in my development as a person and coach and leaving a place that you have invested so much into is always difficult,? Logie said. ?I was extremely thrilled to become a head coach, but especially at a university that has as much tradition of success and shared the same values as I did like Whitworth does.

?I have wanted to be a coach for as long as I remember and Lehigh was a terrific preparation for the opportunity at Whitworth.?

He?s not kidding.

Logie, 32, didn?t miss a beat after taking over the Pirates? program. In his first season at the helm, Logie led Whitworth to the NCAA Division III Sweet 16 thanks to a pair of tournament road victories. The Pirates, who finished 26-4 and ranked 10th in the final D3hoops.com poll this season, won their third straight Northwest Conference regular season title and a sixth consecutive NWC tournament crown.

?It?s not often you can hit the ground running as a head coach,? Logie said, ?so to be able to achieve a 52-8 record and make two Sweet 16 appearances in my first two seasons has been a thrilling ride.?

While leading his new program to success, Logie, who lives in Spokane, Wash., with his wife Julia, daughter Addison, 3, and son Lucas, 1, has been able to watch the fruits of his labor at Lehigh blossom.

On June 27, C.J. McCollum was selected 10th overall by the Portland Trail Blazers in the NBA Draft, becoming just the second Patriot League player ever to be drafted and the first from Lehigh.

Logie, an assistant under head coach Brett Reed, recruited McCollum from GlenOak (Ohio) High School.

?C.J. is proof that you can accomplish anything you set your mind to from a place like Lehigh,? said Logie, who was named the top Patriot League men?s basketball assistant coach in a Foxsports.com Coaches Poll in 2010. ?He really helped take the Lehigh program to new heights and did it in a way that makes everyone associated with Lehigh basketball and Lehigh University extremely proud.?

Logie said he and McCollum, the Patriot League?s all-time leading scorer (2,361), have stayed in touch since his departure from the Bethlehem university two years ago. Logie was present when the Trail Blazers officially introduced their first-round selection to the Northwest media on July 8.

?It was especially rewarding to be on hand for such a special moment in his life,? said Logie, who scored 1,524 points (13.4 per game) from 1999-2003 with the Mountain Hawks. ?To see someone at the beginning of a dream like that and to also be there when it comes to fruition is extremely exciting because you know just how far they have come.?

Source: http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/lehigh/index.ssf/2013/07/catching_up_with_matt_logie_hi.html

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