Megan Sparks just couldn’t get away from Eastern basketball.

After four years of playing for the Panthers, the women’s head basketball coach, Brady Sallee, approached Sparks about joining the team as an assistant coach.

“I can not begin to put into words how important keeping Megan Sparks involved in our program is,” said Sallee. “The past two years with her as a player has been a coach’s dream.”

Sparks, who broke the Eastern single-season players record for free throws made and attempted this past season, has already gotten involved with the program by coordinating the Women’s Basketball Golf Outing June 1 and the Girls Basketball Individual Skills Camp, which was run this week.

The second team All-OVC guard is excited about coaching the same Panthers that she played for.

“It’s a great opportunity for me to step in and help,” Sparks said.

Sparks feels the team has a lot of young talent with five incoming freshmen and six sophomores expected to be on the roster next season. She feels it will be easy to relate to the players, with her career just ending, and hopes to serve as a mentor to each individual.

“I can help them not make the same mistakes that I did,” Sparks said.

Sallee thinks Sparks has quite a future in the coaching business and feels she will coach the game with the same passion she demonstrated while playing.

“The decision to hire Megan to be a part of my staff was as easy a call as giving her the ball in crunch time,” Sallee said. “I am excited to give her the chance to begin what I hope will be a life-long career.”

Sparks will be coaching nine of her former teammates next season and thinks the transition from teammate to coach will go smoothly.

“It’s definitely a change since one day you are their best friend and the next day you are an authority figure,” Sparks said.

One of those former teammates, Rachel Galligan, thought that Sparks was joking when she originally told Galligan that she was becoming a coach, but was very excited to hear that it was true.

“I think her experience, her knowledge of the game, and her leadership abilities will carry over to coaching,” Galligan said. “There will be a little adjustment from being good friends to her being a coach, but she’s already doing a great job.”

Guard Meggie Eck said that it is normally sad when the seniors leave the team, but was very excited to see Sparks brought back.

Eck also thinks Sparks has an advantage as a coach through her experience of playing with a majority of the team.

“She knows the game well and also knows the team’s strengths and weaknesses from playing with them,” Eck said. “Everyone respects her and it will work out fine.”

Sparks finished her playing career as the 10th all-time leading scorer in Panther history. Sparks led all Ohio Valley Conference guards in scoring as she averaged 15.9 points per game. She also ended her career as just the second player in Eastern history to finish with 1,000 points, 100 three-pointers and 300 free throws.