By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
SALEM, Ore.– Justin Duke knows a thing or two about coaching winning programs.
At Scio, where he coached the Girls program between 2012 and 2015, he led the Loggers to a 2A State Runner-Up finish in 2012 and led them to the postseason the next two years before heading to Wilsonville in 2016. Over the next few years, Duke led the Wildcats to the postseason that included two State Semi-Final appearances in 2019 and 2020 and a fourth-place finish this past season before heading to West Salem entering this season.
“I’m really excited to be here. It’s a program that I’ve watched from afar and I’ve been a fan of some of the girls and families and gotten to know some of them through the years and when the opportunity came up to be a little bit closer to home, it made a lot of sense and I applied and fortunate that they gave me a shot,” said Duke, who has 256 career wins to his name.
Duke has inherited a Titan program that returns seven players from their 6A State Playoff team that includes names like Emma Zuniga, Samantha Griffin and Johanna Diaz to help lead the program into the first year of the Duke-era out in West Salem. He’s going to look towards them to help lay the foundation that he hopes to lay this season as they’ll look to push tempo and go fast on both sides of the ball.
“We’re going to rely on them a lot. Super talented bunch, what we need to do is to run a lot in a short amount of time and be patient. I’m a new coach, they’re learning from me, I’m learning from them. It’s going to take some time, but I couldn’t be happier. The girls are awesome to work with, the families, the parents, it’s been nothing but awesome so far,” said Duke.
The Titans will open the season Wednesday with a jamboree at home before officially kicking off the season Friday at Ida B. Wells. West Salem’s first home regular season game will be on December 11 against Tualatin.
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
