Understandably, most of the people I talked to for Wednesday's feature on Newbury Park basketball coach Nori Parvin focused on Parvin the person, rather than the coach. Her ability to develop personal relationships with her players, and to focus on their overall development even at the expense of basketball, set her apart.
But Parvin the coach deserves some recognition as well -- mostly because she may be a bit underrated in that regard, despite those 500 career wins.
"I think you're right about that," says Dennis McKeown, a former assistant coach and longtime friend of Parvin (he was a senior at Hueneme High when she was a freshman). "You look at, especially, the last 10 or 12 years. They've been rolling and rolling along.
"They've done it with teams that have a superstar, and teams that you wouldn't think are especially talented. So she's been able to win in a lot of different situations."
And that, says Chuck Brown, the longtime Thousand Oaks High girls' basketball coach now at Grace Brethren, is "the difference between a lot of coaches that aren't successful" and the ones that are; the unsuccessful ones "keep doing the same thing whether or not they've got the players to do that thing. ...
"Some of her teams have been run-and-gun-type teams, when she's had the players to do that, and others have been those that slow it down and work for the good shot. I remember one group she had there, they would just run that offense and run it over and over and over until finally somebody got a layup. And that's tough for a defense to keep up with."
Newbury Park athletic coordinator George Hurley says Parvin "always wins with defense. But she doesn't have an offense that has been the hallmark of her success. She'll do whatever it takes to win. If she's got kids that won't shoot, she'll try to win 12-10. She is adjustable."
Parvin is unafraid to give her assistants a free hand.
"She's the boss and oversees the whole program," says Ron Gellenbeck, an assistant or lower-level coach in Newbury Park's program since 1988, "but we each have our own responsibilities as far as the practices are concerned, and also the game days."
Parvin's willingness to let her assistants coach is clear in the case of Alex Mallin, the former Newbury Park and Cal Luther player who joined her staff this year. Mallen says she puts together the practice plan virtually every day, while game strategy is discussed between all the coaches.
"She has 100 percent trust in her assistant coaches," says Mallen.

There's one more reason Parvin may not be as heralded for her coaching skills as her 500 wins would seem to dictate: It's not the sort of thing that matters to her.
"She doesn't have much ego," says Hurley. "So you ask her, 'How many league championships have you won?' 'Oh, I don't know. It's not that important.' "
Parvin is not likely to blow her own horn, but others are willing to do it for her.
"I think her record speaks for itself," says Newbury Park boys' basketball coach Steve Johnson, a former Newbury Park student who says Parvin has been "an absolute joy" to work with professionally over the last 15 years.
"All the rest of us maybe have to talk her up a little bit.
"Her longevity, her success -- it's pretty hard to argue with that."