Coach Joe Marsh coached Arlington girls basketball for 13 seasons, though he saw his players as more than just athletes. With many years of success in his trail, Mr Marsh built the program and made a name for the sport throughout the high school.
Co-workers, coaches, and students alike all saw not just the work he put into the program, yet the compassion, attitude, and personality of this special individual.
“He is Arlington Girls basketball. He’s threaded in every part of it, in the success, in the downfalls, in the culture, just everything that basketball is, it’s because of him. He built this program, from when he took over, it was not doing so well, and when he started coaching, it took off. And that just speaks volumes for the type of coach he was, but more so the type of man he was,” Maciee Delaney, Assistant Coach and former player, said.
Passing on May 7, Marsh left behind a memorable 13 seasons after several years of fighting cancer. He inspired people and players across the board, and assited some with discovering passions that they will never forget.
“I played here in high school, he was my coach, and now, had been able to coach alongside of him, I have a new appreciation for him. Seeing the behind the scenes of what it actually is to be a coach, and the impact that a coach has on an athlete, it has just made me appreciate him so much more than I already did. He made me fall in love with basketball, and he made me fall in love with coaching,” Delaney said.
Prior to his coaching career, former coach Nathan Davis led the girls team, willingly giving up his role and allowing Marsh to step in. Marsh then lead the girls team to winning 3 district championships, and 9 trips to state.
“When I had left, there was a lot of athletes and talent ready to kind of explode, so to speak. He guided and did an awesome job of developing all those kids and developing the program. He just did awesome stuff with basketball itself. Super defensive minded, super intense, the girls played super hard,” Davis said.
Marsh led the players and students not only on the court, yet throughout the high school, where he primarily taught history and psychology for almost 20 years.
“The thing that made Marsh so impactful was not just as a basketball coach. It was as a teacher, as a mentor, as a motivator, and when you look at his impact, in our school, it translates way bigger than just basketball, and it translates not only into a school, but into our community,” Tom Roys, Athletic Director, said.
At the end of his coaching career, Marsh was inducted into the WIAA Basketballl Coaching Hall of Fame, and was 5x Wesco Coach of the Year. Continuing his greatness outside the gym, people agree that his character was what lead who he was as a person.
“He cared about each one of his kids, not just on the basketball floor. Beyond the basketball floor and what kind of people they were gonna become. So when you look at that in the big picture, he was larger than life,” Roys said.
