MOUNTLAKE TERRACE BOYS BASKETBALL

Mountlake Terrace High School Boys’ Basketball
64 Years of Success 

     Mountlake Terrace High School has had a long history of athletic success within all its athletic programs. The boys’ basketball program has been fortunate to be a contributor to the pride and sense of achievement that Mountlake Terrace High School has been built around. In 1960, Merle Blevins, a carpentry teacher, became the first head coach of the boys’ basketball program. Merle coached the basketball team for 16 consecutive seasons and took the program to heights that have never been seen in the Edmonds School District before or since. Merle’s contributions to the school with the basketball program were; over 150 wins, 7 playoff appearances, 4 Edmonds School District titles, 4 WESCO titles, 3 Northwest District titles, 3 state appearances and in 1977, the ultimate- the STATE AAA CHAMPIONSHIP! Merle’s 1977 team went 27-1 and beat Richland in the state championship. Merle retired that following spring and in 2009 passed away. Coach Blevins forever left a legacy of class, professionalism, and integrity that is still the standard here at Mountlake Terrace High School. 

    In 1977, a young business teacher from Meadowdale High School came to take over a team coming off the first state basketball title in the history of the Edmonds School District. Roger Ottmar brought over 10 years as an assistant coach at Meadowdale, and the good fortune of playing under Leo and Dean Nicholson at Central Washington University, to Mountlake Terrace High School. In only his third season at MTHS, Roger’s 1980 team won the Edmonds District and WESCO championship and made it to the final 16 in the state before losing a heartbreaking one pt. game to advance to the final eight. Roger’ teams were not done there, his 1989 team, made it to the state tournament and only lost one game-to eventual state champion Chief Sealth by three points, in placing fifth in the 2A tournament. Roger’s teams made an incredible run of making the playoffs 12 out of the last 14 years of his coaching tenure. He capped off his career with the only undefeated season in the history of the Edmonds School District. Roger’s 2000 team went 20-0 during the regular season and won the Edmonds District, WESCO, and Northwest District titles and ended the year 23-2. The Hawks went into the state 4A tournament as the number 1 ranked team in the entire state. For his incredible coaching accomplishments, Roger was named the Everett Herald, Seattle Times, and WESCO Coaches, Coach of the Year. During Roger’s tenure as head coach, the Hawks had 14 playoff appearances, won eight Edmonds District titles, one WESCO Divisional title, two WESCO league titles, one Northwest District title and made four state tournament appearances. Roger ended his career as being one of only a handful of coaches to ever win over 300 games in his career. In 2005, Roger was inducted into the Washington Interscholastic Basketball Coaches (WIBCA) Hall of Fame. Roger returned to the Hawks program in 2002 as an assistant with our varsity team. Roger fully retired from coaching at MTHS in 2011 but is still a very influential part of the MTHS basketball program.

       Mountlake Terrace is one a very small number of high schools in the state of Washington that has three current or former coaches inducted to the Washington Interscholastic Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame. Coach Ottmar, Coach Sood, and Coach Wirtz have all received this honor.

    Nalin Sood, a former player for the Hawks and long-time assistant coach to Roger took over as head coach in 2001. In Sood’s 20+ seasons, the teams have participated in the post-season eighteen times, earned eight WESCO 3A or 4A-South first place finishes, played for the Northwest District Championship nine times, and earned the schools 5th through 19th trips to the state tournament (2003, 2004, 2005, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018 & 2020, 2022, 2023 and 2024). The team placed 3rd in state in 2005 and took home the 4th place trophy in 2013 and 2024, in addition to 6th place in 2023.  After 24 seasons as the head coach at Mountlake Terrace, 37-years as a coach and 41 consecutive seasons as a player or coach with the program, Nalin retired in March of 2024.  Long-time assistant, Johnny Phillips was named the 4th head coach in the storied 64-year history of the program in April of 2024. 

    In 2012, our 1977 team became only the 4th Snohomish County high school atheltic program to be inducted into the Snohomish County Hall of Fame. Many members of that team were in attendance for that great honor including Mrs. Tillie Blevins, wife of Coach Merle Blevins. The long-standing success of the Mountlake Terrace High School boys’ basketball program can be attributed to one thing-the players. MTHS great, Seamus  Boxley followed this up with his induction to the the same Hall of Fame in October of 2023.  The basketball program has been fortunate to send players on to all levels of collegiate and professional basketball including the NBA.

The Mountlake Terrace High School boys’ basketball family is proud to have such a rich and traditional history.

Former assistant coaches at Mountlake Terrace High School are: