THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE: Much more than Xs and Os — New coach Brian Carlson’s goals for the Post Falls High girls basketball team range far beyond the court

Brian Carlson was perfectly happy remaining as the loyal soldier. 

He was a key part on the coaching staff of a successful Post Falls High boys basketball program the past 18 seasons under Mike McLean. 

And, after McLean stepped down following last season, Carlson was content to remain as varsity assistant this coming season, easing the transition from McLean to Jayson Ulrich, the former Lewiston boys coach who spent the past three seasons as the Post Falls junior varsity boys basketball coach. 

Then the Post Falls varsity girls basketball coaching job came open. 

Again. 

For the third time in four years. 

Two weeks later, in late May, Carlson was hired as the Trojan girls’ fourth head basketball coach in five seasons. 

“One of the reasons the job interested me is, the senior class of girls (who will be on the basketball team),” said Carlson, a teacher at Post Falls Middle School for the past 20 years, where he teaches eighth grade history, and also serves as athletic director and summer school principal. “I had two of the three in class; they were some of my favorite kids I’ve ever had in class.” 

One of them is Kailey Walton, who will be a returning varsity player, playing for her third coach in four seasons. 

A few years ago, Carlson’s father, Eric, was selected to go on an Honor Flight. Brian got to accompany his father on the trip from Spokane to Washington, D.C., where area veterans were able to visit the various war memorials. 

Kailey was in the eighth grade at the time, and “she’s an amazing artist,” Brian Carlson said. “I had a picture of my dad when he was a kid, and she drew it for me and helped me put it right next to a poem ... just one of those amazing human beings.” 

CARLSON, 46, replaces Mike Divilbiss, who left after one season to accept a job as a college women’s assistant under someone who formerly played for him. 

Before that, Brian Hall coached the Post Falls girls for two seasons (2022-24), succeeding Marc Allert, who stepped down after an 11-year run that produced two state titles. 

“Brian is such a loyal human being,” Ulrich said. “I kinda knew with having a daughter coming up, and coaching some AAU stuff, that there was a good possibility that he could leave. 

“He’s done this for so long and I think he’s really good at it,” Ulrich added, “that when the opportunity came up for him ... I told him, take it. I think he’s a no-brainer, deserves the opportunity to coach, I think he’s going to do a fantastic job with those girls. I know it was tough for him to leave the boys program, he was attached to these kids as well.” 

Brian and Amy Carlson’s daughter, Kyal, will be a seventh grader at River City Middle School in Post Falls. Brian coaches his daughter on a pair of AAU teams. 

He could be coaching her on the varsity as soon as two seasons from now. 

Still ... 

“I am not one of those people that loved the idea of coaching my own kid,” Brian said. “She encouraged me to do it (pursue the girls coaching job). Her and my personalities are different; she’s more laid-back.  

“It (coaching his daughter in high school) definitely had something to do with it,” Brian added. “I wanted to experience it with her, but as much as anything, I wanted all the girls to have a good experience and some stability.” 

Post Falls High athletic director Craig Christensen noted that Allert was a former Trojan boys basketball assistant coach before taking over as head girls coach, “and that worked out pretty well,” he said. “Working under Mike McLean for 18 years is definitely a plus for (Carlson), because he’s worked under one of the better coaches in the state, I believe. I’m hoping he carries that tradition and some of the other stuff from the boys program. He’s a Post Falls guy, he’s been here a long time, he teaches in our district. He’s got a daughter coming up, so he’s been coaching some of those younger AAU teams, so he knows the girls coming up. So he’s already built relationships with some of the sixth, seventh and eighth graders. He’s dialed in on the girls, so it’s kind of a nice transition." 

IN FACT Carlson, who was one of two applicants for the position, said one of his first calls after getting the head coaching job was to Allert, asking him to join his staff as an assistant coach. 

“In my opinion, Marc Allert could be the best coach in the state of Idaho, and I have him as an assistant,” Carlson said. “He adds experience with the girls. He’s been around girls basketball for a long time. Girls learn a little bit differently than boys.” 

Before Carlson was hired, and while the summer basketball season was already underway, Allert and Post Falls junior varsity coach MacKenzie Taylor presided over open gyms.  

While some teams got in a few dozen games during the summer, the Post Falls girls played just four — in the recent CDA Summer Shootout, though the Trojans hope to play a few games/scrimmages this summer. 

“I don’t know good we’re going to be,” said Carlson, who is taking over a team that finished 8-17 last season. “Doing this as long as I have, I want to provide them a good life experience, because for me that’s the best part of coaching is building those bonds with your players ... when you go to their weddings. I’ve had former players come over and watch college basketball games with me. To me that means more than any game I’ve won or lost.  

“That’s my goal for this senior class; give them a memorable senior year, and hopefully we’ll be playing our best basketball come the end of the season.” 

CARLSON GRADUATED from Kellogg High in 1998, where he played basketball for Tony Kerfoot, whom he still chats with on occasion. 

One thing Carlson said he would take from coaching with McLean all those years ... 

“The first three-quarters of the season, Mike worried about his own team," Carlson said. “We may lose a league game early, but I’m going to worry about what we did right and what we did wrong.” 

As for Carlson’s coaching style ... 

“We’re definitely going to try to get after it,” he said. “We’re going to press, and play a lot of man defense. We’re going to play up-tempo, and aggressive. Not going to see a lot of zone from us.

We’re going to be aggressive, press and get up and down the floor.” 

Carlson said his goals for the program are just as much off the court as on the court. 

“I want them to be a better human being when they leave my program,” Carlson said. “I want them to learn life lessons, and be a valuable member of society someday. And along the way, hopefully teach them about the game of basketball. One of the things that will be non-negotiable with me is, we will compete all the time. Our girls will play hard, and we will be playing our best basketball, hopefully, come February.”   

Carlson said one thing the senior girls asked him when he took the job was for the team to be able to go on a road trip. 

They already had a trip to the Boise area scheduled for November, three games in three days. 

With the help of Christensen, they were able to add one to Idaho Falls in late December for the Eastern Idaho Shootout, three games in three days. The Post Falls boys were already scheduled to go there. 

In recent years, the Trojan boys teams have stayed in an airbnb instead of hotels on these trips, the better for team bonding. 

On this trip, the girls stay in one airbnb, the boys in another. Carlson and Allert would stay in the “boys house.” 

Carlson said he had to laugh recently when one of the Post Falls boys players he coached last year told him, "Coach, you look a lot different coaching the girls; you’re smiling, giving out high-fives.” 

“I think girls are no different than boys, they want to be coached hard," Carlson said. “I’m not going to coach them any different than I coached boys for 18 years. For the most part, I’m going to coach the same exact way. 

"One difference I’ve noticed,” Carlson said, “not only in high school but from coaching youth basketball — most boys think they are way better than they are; girls are way better than they think they are.” 

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 208-664-8176, Ext. 1205, or via email at [email protected]. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @CdAPressSports.