Miriam Tesfamikael didn’t intend to make history when she first stepped onto Springbrook High School’s basketball court as their head coach in 2022. But as the first female head coach of a boys’ varsity basketball team in Montgomery County history, she’s bringing a fresh culture to the school’s basketball program — all while winning a lot of games.
Tesfamikael, who also teaches biology at Springbrook and played forward in her youth, didn’t always plan to coach boys’ basketball. The decision was somewhat spontaneous.
She coached girls’ basketball for one year as an assistant before a position opened up to coach on the boys’ side and she decided to take the opportunity.
“I was like, ‘Cool, challenge accepted,’” Tesfamikael said. “That’s kind of just who I am as a person and I think that’s why being a teacher is probably best for me. I don’t like to do the same thing every day. I don’t want to be able to preemptively guess what’s going to happen and when it’s going to happen.”
She was born and raised in Columbia, Missouri and played collegiately at the University of Chicago. Tesfamikael began graduate school early and received her bachelors degree in Public Policy with a specialization in Education Reform and masters degree in teaching, both from the University of Chicago.
In 2017, she and her husband relocated to the area. In 2018, she became the JV boys basketball coach at Springbrook while also coaching the boys team at Argyle Middle School. In 2022, she accepted the job as head coach for the boys team at Springbrook.
That pivot has paid off. Springbrook finished with a regular season record of 17-4 this year, claiming the top overall playoff seed in the region and earning a first round bye. But this success still comes as a surprise to some, which Tesfamikael says she was reminded of after some comments made towards her at a game at a school in Southern Maryland.
“It was a good reminder that I’m in a very unique position,” Tesfamikael said. “Because it was like, ‘Oh wait, you’re the coach?’ I was like, ‘Yeah.’ It was like, ‘Wait, you’re the coach of the boys?’ And it was so unheard of to everybody down there. And they’re like, ‘And you guys are good?’ You know, just brains just trying to wrap themselves around it.”
Referees are another issue. Tesfamikael says she notices that male head coaches sometimes get more leeway than she does and are able to get away with more in their interactions with officials.
“I’ve witnessed firsthand, on so many occasions, other coaches ripping a ref apart, cursing them out, yelling at them and berating them, and it’s taken as part of the game,” Tesfamikael said. “I have quite literally gotten a warning in a playoff game because the ref didn’t like how loud I yelled for my time out. It was really frustrating.”
“My hands were tied,” she added. “I can’t press the issue, because this ref is now a little on edge because he didn’t like how loudly I yelled for the time out.”
However, interactions like these are uncommon. Tesfamikael says that the love and support she has received from the Springbrook community has been amazing and that the boys have fully embraced her as their leader and coach. The boys are committed not only to their own practices and games, but to the girls’ basketball team as well.
“For them, they don’t see it as, ‘Oh, it’s girls’ basketball,'” Tesfamikael said. “They see it like, ‘Those are our teammates. The girls’ coaches are our coaches.’ Those practices, we see each other every day. This is that family aspect. They give up their Friday night to go and support our girls’ team.”
“It’s great to see them value the women’s side of the game and just value women as equals,” Tesfamikael added. “That’s all I want.”
The boys see Tesfamikael as more than just a coach or another teacher — but also as a friend and an outlet to go and confide in for help.
“I helped plan a number of Valentine’s Day surprises this year, just because the boys really wanted my input,” Tesfamikael said. “They’re like, ‘You’re a woman. Help us. What do you think we should do? Where should I take this girl on a date?’”
“It’s great, because at the end of the day you see the value in not just respecting other women but also like, ‘Hey, it doesn’t matter who this advice is coming from, but we trust this person, this person is in our lives and I’m going to listen to her,’” Tesfamikael added. “Those are the things that make you tear up at night. That’s what makes this group so special.”
That connection can happen at any level — not just high school. Tesfamikael says that if there is one thing she could change about how women are perceived in sports, it would be how far they can go in the field. “For some reason, there’s this idea that women can no longer relate to men once they get out of this high school level,” Tesfamikael said.
“It’s like, ‘What’s she gonna do with NBA guys?’” said Tesfamikael. “I would think the same thing that the male counterpart would do, which is to teach the game of excellence, build a culture and really work on the craft of coaching. Once we get past a certain level, I think that’s why we don’t see a lot of women being head coaches at the college level.”
Confidence is key, according to Tesfamikael. She says that her top piece of advice for young girls interested in a career in coaching is to be as hard as nails, and that she started to journal all of the experiences that have happened to her throughout her coaching career.
“It’s really important to have thick skin and to be able to have a release,” Tesfamikael said. “You’re gonna need somewhere, some way, to release all the nonsense you’re going to encounter, because that part is out of our control.”
“These things are ridiculous and they shouldn’t be happening,” Tesfamikael added. “However, they are happening. And what are you gonna do about it? Are you going to quit? Or are you gonna tough it up? It’s not to say, ‘Oh, man up. Toughen up. You just have to take all the crap that’s coming your way.’ But you do need a way to process it. Because it’s going to be a lot. It’s going to be never ending and sometimes, it’s going to be completely, completely uncalled for.”
Springbrook has been a force this year. Their first playoff game will be Tuesday at 6 p.m. against Paint Branch High School, and the school will look to finish the five-game tournament with their first state championship since 2010.
For Tesfamikael, a championship would add a piece of hardware to the trophy case and be perhaps the second biggest accomplishment in her young coaching career, behind being a historic trailblazer for women’s sports in the county. And beyond.
Photo courtesy of Miriam Tesfamikael
