By David Fleet
dfleet@mihomepaper.com
Goodrich — Martian Girls Varsity Basketball Head Coach Jason Gray waited 259 days for an opportunity to reach an amazing sports pinnacle.
On Tuesday night the Lady Martians tipped off the 2024-25 season with a 67-25 win of Flint Metro League foe Kearsley Hornets notching Gray’s 500 career win all at Goodrich. The long awaited landmark victory was delayed since March 19, 2024 when the Detroit Edison Pioneers (21-3) ended the Lady Martians (26-1) perfect season in the Division 2 State Quarterfinals 50-33 at West Bloomfield High School. Gray was stuck at 499 wins until Tuesday.
“That game was a chance to go to the Breslin Center and the State Finals,” said Gray, on Tuesday night. “A lot of people think about 500 wins more than I do. I’m the last person who is concerned with this win, for me it is whether our team runs the floor right or how the ball moves.”
According to the Michigan High School Athletic Association, coach Gray joins local coach Flint Powers Catholic Coach Kathy McGee, who led the Lady Chargers from 1976-06 and tallied 599 wins and 153 losses. As of Dec. 3, Gray is now ranked 16th among all time girls basketball coaches in Michigan.
“I remain a student of the game,” said Gray. “After 26 years of coaching that holds true now more than ever. I’ve had to change as the game has changed over the years, for good and bad. We started shooting more three pointers than we should, but that’s the way the game is played today. I’m always looking for what fits our kids here at Goodrich. Fortunately for us we have many athletic, fast players, sometimes no size. But, if I could choose a way to play, it would be our way.”
The son of an Eau Claire, Mich. High School basketball coach Gray said he grew up watching and playing basketball. He graduated from Berrien Springs High School and later earned a degree from Alma College. Gray has taught high school history since 1999.
“I really love the game,” he said. “It fits me. So, I always like learning more about the game—there’s always an opportunity with basketball to improve. You try to make the pieces fit. We get our kids playing at a young age, they are in the gym which means I’m in the gym. If I’m doing my job right they are enjoying the game.”
The 2024-25 Lady Martians are returning six seniors of ten players.
“The biggest challenge this season is expectations,” he said. “Given last season 26-1 and so many kids coming back, it’s ‘can you do that again?’ We are not that different (from last season) but we are a little (different).”
March and the MHSAA tournament is the best time of the year, added Gray.
“March (tournament) is so much fun,” he said. “It ‘nerves me out,’ but I get nervous at game one or game 10, it does not matter. March is the time we really try to figure it out and coach. We have had enough not-so-close games in my career that anytime we get a really competitive fun game, win or lose that’s what it’s all about.”
“I get the question a lot about coaching at the college level,” he laughed. “No college team has contacted me yet. There are more fans at the game here on a Tuesday night in December than at some college games. That’s pretty special. I’ll stay and coach as long as they want me here at Goodrich. I’m teaching at the school where I’m coaching.”
In 2012 the Goodrich Lady Martians won the Class B state title defeating Grand Rapids Catholic Central 60-53 and in 2013 Goodrich defended their state crown by topping Flint Powers Catholic 51-34 at the Jack Breslin Center on the campus of MSU site of the MHSAA State Championship. At one point during the 2011-13 season the teams tallied 77 wins in 82 games, including a 2012 perfect season at 28-0.
The back-to-back state championships followed a double overtime loss to Dearborn Divine Child in the state semi-final Class B championship game on March 18. 2011 the Goodrich girls varsity basketball team completed an impressive postseason run after a stellar 24-2-0 season which included blasting the state’s top-ranked Class B team Detroit Country Day (24-1-0) on March 15.
“We’ve had some great girls who are not only basketball players, but also very good people,” he said.
“We’ve seen some great connections between girls, good people that value being on a team. We have not had to do a lot to form camaraderie; they are the type who you want to have on your team. A lot of girls have been driven academically and athletically. They have made my job easy in a lot of ways.”