Jack Mehl, Hood College’s women’s basketball coach since 2011, has retired as head coach but will continue in his role as associate director of athletics in the Blazer athletic department.
“Jack’s leadership and positive influence has impacted more than the student-athletes he has coached at Hood,” said Director of Athletics Dr. Susan Kolb. “Jack has an ability to inspire those around him, no matter the person or the title in which they hold. The student-athletes he has coached are better basketball players, students, and most importantly, people for having played under him. I’m happy for Jack and this next chapter in his life, but he is leaving behind a pronounced legacy as Coach Mehl.”
During his time on the sidelines, Mehl won 455 games between his time at Hood and at Frederick Community College.
At Hood, he won 62 games, the second-most since the program was reestablished in 1995. Mehl coached Hood to the only win over a nationally ranked team in program history when they defeated Lebanon Valley in 2013-14. He had five players named all-conference and nearly 30 student-athletes named to the conference’s academic honor roll.
“I have been teaching and coaching for 44 years and have enjoyed every day,” said Mehl. “Having said that, I feel that now is the right time to step away from coaching. I have had great times at Hood working with the players, coaches, and administration as well as the rest of the athletic staff, campus staff and the faculty. Hood has been very good to me, and I hope that I have had some impact on the people that I have worked with.”
Prior to taking over the Blazers, Mehl spent a total of 18 seasons at the helm of the Frederick Community College women’s basketball program, guiding the Cougars to national prominence. The career mathematics teacher in the Frederick County School system and a graduate alumnus of Hood began his coaching career at the high school level in the early 1980s.
Mehl compiled a record of 393-162 (.708) at FCC from 1988-2002 and 2006-10, which included 11 consecutive seasons with at least 20 victories. During his two stints at FCC, the Cougars won six regional championships, five state titles and earned five national tournament berths. Mehl’s best season at FCC came during the 2000-01 campaign when the Cougars finished as the runner-up in the national tournament. He was honored with numerous coach of the year awards during his tenure at FCC.
Mehl also served as the varsity girls and junior varsity boys basketball coach at Brunswick High School, the assistant boys’ basketball coach at Linganore High School and the head coach of Brunswick Middle School’s seventh and eighth grade squad.
Mehl served as a mathematics department chair and teacher at Brunswick High School from 1979 until retiring as a teacher. He was also a student government adviser, an administrator of Brunswick’s club program and a tutor and financial director for an after-school tutoring program.
The Basking Ridge, N.J. native earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in mathematics from Bucknell University in 1979. He earned a Master of Arts degree in the human sciences with an individualized concentration in school curriculum from Hood in 1988. Mehl has garnered several professional accolades, including the 2007 Charles Tressler Distinguished Teacher Award. He was also inducted into the Alvin Quinn YMCA Hall of Fame in 2005 and was a finalist for the 1991 Mathematics Teacher of the Year Award by the Maryland Council of Teachers in Mathematics.
Mehl’s wife, Carrie, worked for FCPS (Frederick County Public Schools) as a secondary teacher specialist. They are the parents of two sons, Timothy and Bradley, both of whom graduated from Lebanon Valley.
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