Dillard’s Marcia Pinder receives national honor

FORT LAUDERDALE — At this point, each honor could get a little old for Dillard girls’ basketball coach Marcia Pinder.

She’s been celebrated for her success, longevity and character during her 41 years on the sideline. Even now, the feeling is the same when she brings home another accolade. On Wednesday, Pinder was given the 2018 Gatorade Coaching Excellence Award during the school’s sports banquet.

“No,” Pinder said when asked if she tires of winning awards. “Because it’s something new all the time. This is totally different and over the top.”

The honor, established in 2016, pays tribute to the “best and most dedicated high school coaches across the country.” The boys’ award went to Chicago Phillips’ football coach Troy McAllister. Both will also be honored at the Gatorade Athlete of the Year Awards in July in Los Angeles.

Pinder said she was shocked to earn the honor because most came after winning one of her nine state titles. This year’s Dillard Marcia Pinder, on her 2017-18

team, which only had one senior, lost to Fort Myers in the Class 7A state semifinals.

“It kind of like shocked me,” said Pinder, who has a 942-212 record and is the winningest coach in state history. “We didn’t win the state and still I’m getting this huge award from Gatorade and having the staff to come out and survey the school and ask me different questions, that’s never happened.”

It is third major honor Pinder has captured recently. Last year she won the Morgan Wooten Award for Lifetime Achievement in Coaching High School. In 2014, she was named to the National High School Athletic Coaches Association Hall of Fame.

At 66, Pinder said year’s run rejuvenated career.

“This team, it’s like they put 20 more years to my life,” Pinder said. “It was a last her Dillard team

joy, it was a pleasure coaching them. It was just so energetic. This was the first team that I’ve ever had I didn’t have to really punish for not going 200 percent or being late ... It’s a pleasure when you are that comfortable with a team. You don’t have to worry about the academic part. The only thing you have to do is make sure they’re performing well and getting what they need on the court.”

Pinder has no plans of slowing down, either. She wants to continue her career long as possible.

“It’s like anything else, I don’t think about it,” Pinder said of retirement. “If it happens, it happens. I don’t have a time on it. I just let [God] be the captain of my ship … I love what I’m doing.”

srichardson@ sun-sentinel.com; On Twitter @shandelrich