North Penn girls’ basketball coach Maggie deMarteleire was inducted into the Montgomery County Coaches Hall of Fame. The banquet was held at Normandy Farm Hotel-Conference Center on Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2016. The article below appeared in the banquet program and is used with permission of the Montgomery County Coaches Hall of Fame.
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By Mary Jane Souder
Maggie deMarteleire never aspired to be a coach.
Married with two children and living with husband Michael in New Jersey, the former Lansdale Catholic three-sport standout applied for the head coaching position at her alma mater only after watching one of her sisters play for three different coaches in three years.
deMarteleire’s experience?
“I coached softball little league because I was kind of bored and I didn’t know anyone in New Jersey,” she said.
Lucille Pritchard landed the position, and for three years, deMartleiere was her assistant. When Pritchard stepped down, deMarteleire took over, and the rest is history. She not only gave LC stability, she has done the same at North Penn, establishing a winning tradition at both during a stellar 24-year career.
deMarteleire has led her teams to 14 league championships – 11 PAC-10 titles during her 15 years at LC and, more recently, three Suburban One League titles at North Penn. Her teams have played in four District One finals with North Penn winning the program’s first ever district crown in 2014. Her teams have made 11 state playoff appearances.
On Tuesday night at Normandy Farms, deMarteleire – who surpassed the 500-win milestone last winter - will be inducted into the Montgomery County Coaches Hall of Fame. Her coaching philosophy is simple.
“In life, you should always strive to do the right thing and make the right choices, and I feel that translates over into basketball,” deMarteleire said. “Do the right thing, make the right choices and respect others. The last thing is a positive attitude.
“I’ve been very fortunate, the girls I’ve coached – their parents have already implemented that philosophy. I’m just an extension of their family.”
It’s the players that have kept deMarteleire in it for the long haul. Lisa Strom – a state champion golfer at LC who went on to excel at Ohio State – was part of the basketball team’s success story under deMarteleire.
“The most important things that I took from playing for Maggie was her competitive spirit, high standards and expectations, and she genuinely cared for each player in her program,” said Strom, now the head women’s golf coach at Texas State. “She figured out a way to put you in a position to succeed, and she believed in us more than we believed in ourselves. I have a greater appreciation of coaching because of her.”
Erin Maher was a key member of North Penn’s district title team and is playing at Philadelphia University.
“I never played AAU or anything too competitive in terms of basketball. Aside from rec and CYO, Maggie was my first real coach and challenge, and oh man, did she challenge me,” Maher said. “She demanded the absolute best out of me on and off the court.
“This challenge played such an important role, not only in preparing me to play in college but to be successful in life. She just cares so much about her players and their successes as basketball players but, more importantly, as individuals too. She’s just so unbelievably dedicated and invested in seeing achievable potential.”
Lauren (Budweg) Brett had the opportunity to play for deMarteleire at LC and later serve as her assistant at North Penn.
“I feel like you don’t really appreciate Maggie until you’re done playing for her,” Brett said. “She’s very tough, very intense, and she demands the best from you at all times.
“I think the biggest thing is somehow she always changed her way of coaching and her system to meet the talent she had. She is always looking for a new way to make the players she has the best they possibly can be. I think that’s why her teams were so successful.”
deMarteleire – the daughter of former LC football coach Jim Algeo – says she couldn’t have done it without great assistants and the support of her family. During her career, she has been joined on the sidelines by son Michael and daughter Jacqueline.
“They’ve been wonderful, and my husband has been at every game – he’s been terrific,” said deMarteleire.
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