This is one in a series of articles on Slippery Rock University graduates who have moved on to athletic careers elsewhere.CLARION — The one aspect of Margaret "Gie" Parsons' coaching career more impressive than her elite status is the path she took to get there.The 1971 Slippery Rock University graduate will be entering her 18th season as head coach of the Clarion University women's basketball team this fall.But beyond her 371-285 college coaching record lies a unique story.Parsons grew up in Monroeville. When she entered Gateway High School as a freshman in the mid-1960s, there was no girls basketball team.And Parsons set out to change that."My junior year, I approached the school about getting a girls team started, but they weren't interested," she said. "Then I brought it up again my senior year, and they turned me down again."But the resourceful Parsons just took matters into her own hands."It seemed nobody wanted me to (start a girls team)," Parsons said of the school administrators. "But I decided to do it on my own. I was able to get enough girls together and we used a gym in the bottom of a church in Penn Hills. I served as a player-coach that season."The 1960s was before the implementation of Title IX and girls sports were not taken seriously. Many high schools did not have a girls basketball team, but Parsons' squad was able to find several opponents, including Plum, Penn Hills and Wilkinsburg."I just couldn't believe that women and girls were being denied the chance to play basketball. I think that season set me on the path to coaching," Parsons said.After graduating from SRU, where she played basketball for two seasons, Parsons landed a teaching job at Lakeview High School.In a case of deja vu, she found that Lakeview was without a girls basketball team.One year before Title IX was put in place to protect the rights and interests of females in sports, Parsons started the girls basketball program at Lakeview in 1971 and coached it for three seasons.The following years saw Parsons coach her favorite sport at high schools in New Zealand and Australia, while playing for three club championship teams from 1977-79.After a short stint as a graduate assistant at SRU and an eight-year tenure at Thiel College, in which she led the Tomcats to a 110-73 record and the team's first berth into the NCAA playoffs, Parsons agreed to become head coach at Clarion in 1989.She took over a team that had gone 3-23 the season before she arrived."My first season was a little rough," Parsons said of the Golden Eagles' 8-18 mark in 1989-90. "But the next six or seven were pretty good."Between 1991-95, Parsons coached Clarion to an overall record of 117-33 and an incredible mark of 50-10 against conference opponents.That stretch saw the Eagles claim five consecutive PSAC West titles, three PSAC championships, two East Region crowns, two trips to the NCAA Division II Elite 8 and a No. 2 national ranking during the 1993-94 season.Parsons has been named PSAC West Coach of the Year three times (1991, 1992, 2005)."I had a couple of offers to go elsewhere," Parsons admitted. "But I wasn't looking to use Clarion as a steppingstone."Just two seasons ago saw Clarion close its season with a 23-7 record, before a very young squad managed a 12-15 record in 2005-06.The Golden Eagles had only one senior on last year's roster."We're going to be a young team again next year," said Parsons, 56. "But the future looks bright."As for Parsons' future with the team, she isn't planning on stepping down any time soon."I've got no timetable," she said. "I'll coach until ... whenever."