Beth McNamara returns as Nashoba Girls Basketball Head Coach
By Michael James LeClair
The Nashoba girls’ basketball program didn’t have to look very far to find its next head coach, in fact it only had to look one seat down on the bench.
After seven years on the job, Tina Seabury has stepped down as the Wolves head coach. Seabury will be taking her talents to South Ashburnham where she has been named the new girls’ head coach at Oakmont Regional.
Replacing Seabury at Nashoba will be a familiar face as Nashoba Athletic Director Tania Rich has confirmed that Beth McNamara will be taking over as head coach beginning the winter 2024-2025 season.
“I did hire Beth as our next girls’ basketball coach,” confirmed Rich. “Tina (Seabury) did take the Oakmont girls basketball job.”
McNamara previously served as the head coach for the girls’ basketball team for seven years from 2010 to 2017. Seabury was hired to replace her.
McNamara came back to the Nashoba program four years ago and has served as the junior varsity head coach and varsity assistant since then.
“I’m really excited to be taking over and coaching the varsity. The girls on the team are such great kids,” said McNamara recently. “I loved working with Tina and was happy in that role but when she left it was a no brainer for me to apply for the job.”
“Like I said, the girls on the team are really fun and have lots of potential,” said McNamara, who works as a physical education teacher at the high school. “I don’t have a staff yet but we will be starting the process as soon as possible.”
During her first stint as Nashoba head coach, McNamara was named Central Mass. Division 1 Coach of the Year in both 2012 and 2013.
After serving as an assistant coach for three years at Fitchburg State University, Barry Call joined McNamara as his assistant coach for six years at Nashoba. Call recently shared his thoughts on working with McNamara.
“I had a great working relationship. I was lucky enough at North Middlesex Regional and Nashoba, to work with coaches who had a lot of faith in me and let do things,” said Call. “Beth relied on me a lot, which was nice. My experience working with Beth was phenomenal.”
McNamara is a 1983 graduate of St. Bernard’s Catholic High School in Fitchburg where she excelled on the basketball court and the softball field. She was inducted into the St. Bernard’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 2013. After high school, McNamara went on to have a standout athletic career in both sports at what was then known as Fitchburg State College.
In addition to her time coaching at Nashoba, McNamara has also had head coaching stops at Murdock, Oakmont Regional, Fitchburg and Shrewsbury. She served as an assistant coach at Gardner.
The high school winter sports season officially kicks off the Monday following Thanksgiving. McNamara inherits a team that finished the 2023-2024 winter campaign with a 12-10 overall record and lost to Notre Dame of Hingham in the Division 2 Round of 16.