Area basketball figure McNamara joins SWC as coach

If you are unfamiliar with the AAU circuit in in the area, you are probably haven’t heard of the Kevin McNamara.

He is the head of MAC Basketball that trains the top girls basketball prospects in the area. On July 25, he accepted the girls basketball coaching position at Berea-Midpark High School, pending board approval.

MAC Basketball has strong roots in Lorain County, with its origins starting in Avon of the early 2000s.

According to McNamara, more than half of the Lorain County Miss Basketball

Award winners have trained with MAC Basketball at the Fairview Recreation Center.

He is also the father of Midview girls basketball coach Brittany McNamara-Cole, who also competes in the SWC that also has North Ridgeville and the four-time conference champs Olmsted Falls. McNamara is a well-respected coach throughout the area and was congratulated by multiple SWC coaches after taking the job.

Before becoming the Titans’ new coach, he was Trinity’s girls basketball coach for seven seasons leading the program to two-straight Chagrin Valley Conference championships in 2020-21 and 2021-22.

Trinity was the Division

III district runners-up, falling to the eventual regional champs Waynedale (52-40), who were undefeated at the time.

Originally, McNamara wasn’t looking to become the Berea-Midpark’s new head coach after their old girls basketball and personal friend coach Kevin Braaten was hired to become their boys basketball coach following a 17-8 (6-6 in SWC) district semifinalist season on the girl’s side. In fact, it was Braaten that convinced him to look at the opportunity.

One game to watch will be when they take on Midview in Grafton on Dec. 21. Midview will be returning almost their entire starting lineup with a highly-touted freshman Leah DiFranco.