Burke Catholic graduate Emily Stallings, left, goes through drills on Monday. She will likely be one of the key players off the bench when Marist takes on St. Bonaventure on Tuesday night.Photo provided

Times Herald-Record

Published: 2:00 AM - 07/21/12

Emily Stallings has those first-job kind of nerves as she preps for her first basketball coaching job.

The Burke Catholic graduate from Newburgh has accepted the graduate assistant coaching job at East Stroudsburg University in the fall.

"I'm excited to get into the coaching atmosphere,'' said Stallings, who graduated from Marist in the spring.

Stallings has long desired getting into coaching, and Marist assistant Meg Gebbia helped by informing her about a seminar in Denver where would-be coaches would be schooled on the fine points of the profession and make contacts.

"It's kind of like combining two things,'' said Stallings, who got a degree in education. "I've always loved teaching, so I get to combine basketball and teaching together and keep basketball a part of my life.''

Stallings said she's had a lot of positive coaching influences in her life, from Bob Turner at Burke, Al Viani with the AAU and Gebbia and head coach Brian Giorgis at Marist.

"I've had a wide span of coaches, a wide span of personalities,'' she said, "and they've given me good examples of how you should coach. I can choose what I like from different people " and see what works.''

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Burke grad preps for first coaching gig