Meerstein reflects on his 400th career win

GREEN BAY (WLUK) -- Watch Mark Meerstein coach a game and what you see is someone in control, letting his kids play and once in a while bring a player over for some one-on-one advice.

The N.E.W. Lutheran boys basketball coach has been doing this for more than three decades, and Thursday night the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame coach added to his resume with his 400th career win as the Blazers downed Sturgeon Bay 80-63 in Packerland Conference action.

Meerstein took his latest milestone in stride after the win.

"Everybody who has ever been in the coaching profession knows that it takes a lot of hard work, not just by myself and the coaching staff, but all the guys that come through, and those are the guys I'm really proud of," he said. "It's very special. Getting 400 is not easy to do. The problem is I've just stayed around too long.

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"The longevity has helped me keep going. I've been here 32 years and all the wins have come here so it's very special to me here."

Meerstein won his 300th game with his oldest son, Sam, and Thursday won No. 400 with his senior son Elijah. He said there are no thoughts of stepping aside after Elijah, his youngest son, graduates.

"They've been here for eight years, so that's 25 percent of the time," Meerstein said. "It's always special when you have your kid, but when they're on the floor they probably get it harsher than everybody else because I expect so much from them. When you get to do something like this with your kid right next to you, it's a lot of fun."

Meerstein said he can't remember his first win, but he does remember his first game, an overtime loss to Sevastopol. The Blazers went 3-14 that season, but there was plenty to come as he always knew he would coach for a long period of time.

"I thought I'd be coaching this long," he said. "Never thought about wins and losses, though, just thought about getting the kids better, and hopefully they can teach their kids someday about the game of basketball I love so much."

Meerstein hasn't just won a lot of games, he has won some big ones. He led his team to the WISAA Class B state championship in 1998 and WIAA state runner-up finishes in 2010, 2013 and 2014, along with WIAA state appearances in 2011, 2015, 2016, 2018 and 2021. Also, his teams won Packerland Conference championships in 2011-12, 2012-13 and 2013-14.

"I love this," Meerstein said. "This is why I'm doing this. It's so much fun for me. It's fun for me to get out here, we have great kids all the time. We might not always win, but we sure love to compete. I've had some special groups over the years."

And as he already commented on, he's not planning on going anywhere after this season.

"As long as I am having fun and the energy is there, I don't want to ever jeopardize these kids, I want to give them the best I can give them all the time," Meerstein said. "As soon as I stop doing that, I don't think I'll ever catch Jerry (Petitgoue, who has a state record 1,008 wins entering this season), but I'd like to give it a shot and do as much as I can."

Follow Doug Ritchay on Twitter @dougritchay