Winter Coaching Staff

BOYS BASKETBALL

Jeff Gallagher - Head Coach (2002 - Present)

Jeff Gallagher came to Valley Catholic in 2002 as a social studies teacher and head boys basketball coach and in 2005 was named Athletic Director. Before coming to Valley he spent two seasons as an assistant coach at Pacific University in Forest Grove. In 2000, as the starting point at Pacific, Coach Gallagher helped lead the Boxers to their first ever NCAA national tournament berth. He graduated from Bremerton (WA) High School, where he played three years of varsity basketball for his dad (Larry Gallagher); as a senior he led the conference in scoring and was 1st-team all-league. He then played two years for Roger Valentine at Skagit Valley College in Mount Vernon, WA, where, in his sophomore year he was team captain and nominated for Male Athlete of the Year. He earned a B.A. in History from Pacific in 2001 and a Master in Education Administration from Grand Canyon University in 2007. In 2007 Coach Gallagher’s Valiants won their first West Valley League title and the first basketball State Championship in Valley Catholic history. The team finished with a 24-6 record, highlighted by a 19-game winning streak. Coach Gallagher was named West Valley League Co-Coach of the Year and the 3A Oregon State Coach of the Year. The 2010-2011 season saw the Valiants match their school record of 24 wins (24-6 overall). VC finished 15-1 in the Lewis and Clark League while capturing another league championship. The Valiants went on to finish sixth at the OSAA State Championships. Coach Gallagher is VC's all-time leader in wins, and in nine seasons his teams have made the post season seven times. Jeff and his wife Michele live in Beaverton with their three-year-old daughter, Kalli.

Larry Gallagher - Varsity Assistant (2006 - Present)

As a first-year assistant with the varsity basketball team in 2007 Coach Gallagher was instrumental in their run to the State Championship. Before retiring Coach Gallagher served as Athletic Director and head boys basketball coach at Bremerton High School in Bremerton, WA, where he was a volunteer football assistant his first two years before concentrating on basketball. He has over 35 years of coaching experience that includes football, basketball, and baseball at Bremerton High School and Valley Catholic. As Bremerton he captured four league championships and appeared at the state tournament twice. Larry was also on Valley's football staff from 2007-2010. Coach Gallagher also serves as a substitute teacher at Valley Catholic.

GIRLS BASKETBALL

John Innes - Head Coach (2004 - Present)

Coach Innes was a three-sport athlete at St. George’s High School in Spokane. He then attended Hamilton College in Clinton, NY, where he played three years of varsity golf and was the radio announcer for the varsity mens and womens basketball teams. From 1997 to 2001 Coach Innes coached boys basketball under Jennifer Mountain—one of Gonzaga University’s all-time leading scorers and now Head Womens Coach at Santa Clara University—and Ken Anderson, who played with John Stockton at Gonzaga. Coach Innes’s JV program captured two league titles and accumulated a record of 81-16. The Varsity program appeared in two Washington State Tournaments ('98 and '01), winning 7th and 2nd place trophies. In 2003, Coach Innes came to Oregon to teach English at Valley Catholic and coach under Ross Thomas, who had won seven state titles in Washington. In 2004, Coach Innes was named Head Coach of Valley Catholic. His teams have captured four West Valley League titles (2007-2010), and he has been named West Valley League Coach of the Year in 2007, 2008, and 2009. The Valiants were 2nd at State in 2007, 3rd in 2008, and 4th in 2009. During their time in the WVL under Coach Innes, the Valiants have compiled a record of 130-39. Since the OSAA reclassified in 2006 Valley Catholic has won more basketball games than any other 3A program in the state.

Pat Thomas - JV Coach/Varsity Assistant (2006 - Present)

In 2006 Coach Thomas returned to Valley Catholic after a year’s absence. During that time he taught English and served as an assistant varsity boys basketball coach at Archbishop Murphy High School in Everett, WA. Pat now teaches History and English at VC. As an assistant coach in the girls basketball program he helped lead the Valiants to four consecutive state tournaments. Coach Thomas graduated from St. George’s School in Spokane in 2001, where he was a multi-year all-conference baseball player and cross-country runner and started for the 2001 Dragons basketball team that played for the Washington State Championship. In his senior year he was named Co-Athlete of the Year. He earned a B.A. in History at Whitman College, where he was a starting pitcher and two-year baseball captain, and a Master in Teaching from Pacific University. As an assistant baseball coach in 2010 Coach Thomas helped lead the Valiants to the West Valley League Championship and an appearance in the OSAA state finals. This past spring Pat took over as the head coach for the Valiants' baseball team, leading them to a second-place finish in the conference and to their fourth state tournament appearance in five seasons.

Coach Coussens is entering into her third year as a member of the basketball staff. She has had responsibilities at the middle school, JV2, JV, and varsity level. Meg is a 2004 graduate of Valley Catholic. While at Valley she was a leader on campus serving as a student body officer. Meg’s sharp shooting ability helped make her a three time letter winner in basketball and twice her teams appeared in the state tournament. Her senior year she was an instrumental part for the Valiants state tournament team while playing for our principal Ross Thomas and our current head coach John Innes. Meg graduated from Gonzaga University and currently teaches second grade at Valley Catholic Elementary School.

John has been coaching girls basketball for the last three seasons at Valley. Before that he coachedCYO basketballat St Anthony foreight years. He has over fifteen years of coaching experience in youth baseball, thee years in softball, eight years in soccer and two yearsin YMCA basketball. Coach Cook has worked with Coach Innes,Coach Thomas and Coach Coussens during the Valley Catholic summer league the past three years and helped out with Coach Gallagher on the boys side the summer before. Coach Cook works with CoachKeagbine helping outthe JVII team. John,an OSU graduate, has his own CPA and financial planning practice.

DANCE

This is Jessica’s 6th year with Charisma, Valley’s dance team and her fourth as head coach. In 2010 Coach Anderson led the Valiants to the first dance State Championship in school history and in 2011to a successful defense of their title. The 2010 and the 2011 state titles came on the heels of a 2nd place finish in 2009. Coach Anderson and her co-coach (Megan Hoffman) were selected as the 2009-2010 Valley Catholic Coaches of the Year. Jessica was an assistant coach at Wilsonville High School in 2003-04. She was a 3-year member and a captain of the Wilsonville dance team, earning State Championships in 1999 and 2000. Jessica graduated from Oregon State University in 2005 with a BS in biology and a minor in psychology. She performed with OSU’s Elite dance team in 2004. She began ballet when she was three and continues to study dance in many varied forms. Jessica is an expert on Oregon dance-team history and trivia and aspires to become a certified performance judge. Active in the Dance Drill Coaches Association (DDCA), she is an advocate for all 1-3A dance teams and frequently serves as a try-out judge for team selection. Jessica describes her coaching partnership with Megan Hoffman as a “perfect balance” and foresees a long run of success for VC’s dance program.  In 2011 Jessica completed her doctoral studies in naturopathic medicine.

2010 saw Valley Catholic, under the guidance of Coach Anderson and Coach Hoffman, capture their first ever State Championship. Coach Hoffman and Coach Anderson helped the Valiants repeat as state champions in 2011. The 2010 and the 2011 state titles came on the heels of a 2nd place finish in 2009. Coach Hoffman and her co-coach (Jessica Anderson) were selected as the 2009-2010 Valley Catholic Coaches of the year. Megan is a 2004 graduate of Valley Catholic High School. In 2000 she was a member of the first Charisma dance team and in her junior and senior years served as team captain. Megan graduated from the University of Portland in May 2008 with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing. During her freshman year she was a member of the UP dance team. She is now a nurse at Emanuel Children’s Hospital, working in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Never forgetting her love for dance team and her wonderful experiences as a member of Charisma, Megan returned to coach at her alma mater for the 2006-07 season and has been with the team since.

SWIMMING

Jacob Sherman - Head Coach (2011 - Present)

Jacob Sherman (VCHS 2003) took over the Valiant swimming program in 2011 from Abe Gleason, who had led the Valiants to many years of success.  Jacob teaches Physics, AP Physics B, and AP Physics C at Valley. He has a Bachelor of Science degree from Oregon State in Bioengineering and a Master of Arts in Teaching from the University of Portland. Immediately before returning to Valley, Jacob taught science at Monroe Catholic School in Fairbanks. Jacob swam for Valley Catholic (qualifying for State three times—he still hold two school records) and played water polo at Oregon State.  He started teaching swimming when he was only fifteen and coached summer-league teams through THPRD for five years and high-school swimming in Fairbanks for two years.