COACH OF THE YEAR : No Game’s Too Tough for Panthers’ Parvin

Apparently nothing can disrupt the calm of girls’ basketball Coach Nori Parvin.

Not tangled transportation connections the day of a state championship game, not 32 turnovers by her Newbury Park High team in its most-important game of the season, and not even the final score: The Panthers lost the Division III State title game to Archbishop Mitty on Saturday, 64-56.

After Newbury Park won 26 games in a row, the coach watched the Panthers hand 36 points to Archbishop Mitty off turnovers.

Perhaps Newbury Park felt rushed. A foul-up at the hotel Saturday left the Panthers without a bus, forcing them to hurriedly arrange rides with the hotel shuttle service. They arrived at the Oakland Coliseum Arena only 45 minutes before game time.

“I was planning on getting there two hours before the game,” Parvin said.

But no tirade ensued. Not even a discouraging word from Parvin, a 21-year coach who is always the picture of patience.

“I told the players the score was not in our favor, but as far as I was concerned we went out as winners,” she said.

Players have grown to rely on Parvin’s calming influence.

“We know that with her we come before anyone else,” said Kara McKeown, a senior center who has known Parvin her whole life. “She’s a good friend. She’s always there for us and really understands us.”

Those qualities have helped make Parvin The Times’ Ventura County coach of the year for the second consecutive season. Parvin also has benefited from a talented senior group that has posted a 75-14 record the past three seasons.

In an historic season, the Panthers won the Marmonte League title with a 14-0 record, the Southern Section Division III-AA championship and posted a 31-2 record, boosting Parvin’s career mark to 273-202.

Friends have suggested that the 45-year-old coach make her best season her last. No way, Parvin said.

“This has been a career highlight,” she said. “At school (Monday) people were still bringing balloons, and celebrating and telling us it was a great season. Quit while I’m ahead? I could come in last place and have a great group of kids and that would be going out on a high note.”