Students and faculty at Bingham bleed blue. The coaches do too.

What does it take to make a team great?

Girl’s Basketball head coach, Charron Mason, knows the challenge of competing with not only other schools but with Bingham’s legacy too. When asked if she feels the pressure being a coach at Bingham she said, “Absolutely. But I love that part. Knowing everyone expects you to be great.” She said she’s always looking to achieve or exceed those expectations. Mason also talked about how much pressure there was coming in as head coach after Rand. “He’s legendary,” she said.

Mason played basketball at Bingham herself, with Rand as her coach. As a high school student, she ran the basketball camps at Rand’s insistence. He told her, “You are going to be a coach.” He was right. Here she is today, coaching the high school team she played for, taking the place of her former coach. Not only that, but Mason is a history teacher at the school. When asked about how much extra time she puts into being a coach, she laughed and said, “so much.” She said that being a coach on top of that is like “another full-time job.”

One of Mason’s assistant coaches, Skyler Beard, has been coaching basketball for seven years. It’s his first year here at Bingham. He said that he hasn’t felt the same pressure as Mason because of that fact. But he does acknowledge that “Bingham is built on tradition and success.” Beard finds that the hardest part about being a coach is “getting the most out of the players.” That’s why the number one thing he tells the girls is “you can’t teach heart, you can’t teach hustle. So bring both with you every day.”

The hardest part for Mason actually has nothing to do with scoring baskets or motivating her players. It’s making sure everything gets done, from paperwork to player forms to fees. But Mason and Beard do agree on what the best part is. It’s being around the girls. Mason loves to see when they work hard and commented on how “funny and fun” they are.

Being a coach at Bingham isn’t easy. There are high expectations and tradition to uphold. But like Mason said, “Above all, it’s all about being a team.”