Council Athletic Director and Coach, Paula Tucker, Has Long Legacy of Coaching
If anyone understands kids and how to make playing sports fun, it’s Council Athletic Director and Coach Paula Tucker. Her parents had nine children; she was the oldest, so according to her brother, Charlie Shepherd, our District 7 Idaho State Representative, Tucker spent much of her own youth helping raise her younger siblings.
“Everyone in our family was playing a sport just about as soon as they could walk,” Shepherd said. He added that their parents felt it was an effective way to keep their kids active and out of trouble.
“Dad was a pole vaulter at Boise Junior College and Mom lived before women were allowed to play extramural sports,” he said. Shepherd was an unofficial coach of the women’s softball team that Tucker played on in Garden Valley, where they were raised, in fact, that is where he met his wife; she was playing for an opposing team.
For Tucker, coaching started in Garden Valley in 1997. She coached the varsity girls’ basketball team. By 1999, she was coaching both the boys’ and girls’ varsity teams and her oldest son, Levi, was one of the players she coached. She also coached her daughter, Layne, when the Garden Valley Teams won both volleyball and basketball state championships. Her son, JC, was on the team when they came in second place at the state championships. She also coached against her brother, Shepherd, who was the coach at Salmon River at the time. Her sister, Kristin Goff won the Division 1 Varsity Girls’ Volleyball Championship during a year when Tucker was coaching at Garden Valley.
When she left Garden Valley, her sister took over her volleyball coaching position, and when she left Salmon River, her son Levi took over as girls’ volleyball coach.
Tucker and her first husband Jim had five children. Sadly, he was killed in a logging accident when he was 35. Tucker eventually married again and had a sixth child (appropriately named Tucker), but the marriage didn’t last, and she has been single and a full-time coach, athletic director, and grandmother ever since.
Tucker was coaching in Salmon River, where her brother Charlie coached for many years. She coached there from 2011 until 2021. During that time, her oldest son Levi was her assistant for girls’ basketball and her granddaughter, Mandy Vander Esch was on the team along with her niece Chevelle Shepherd (Charlie’s daughter).
Her daughter Layne was her assistant for volleyball. Also, while at Salmon River Tucker coached against her nieces Sharsti Goff of Horseshoe Bend and Josi Wells of Castleford.
If it sounds as though there is a Tucker-related coaching dynasty in the making, it’s true; it would be easier to find Tucker relations who don’t coach, than those who do.
Council High School had tried to recruit Tucker to come coach here for several years, but the timing wasn’t right. It was right in 2021, because Salmon River did not have enough players to make up a team and because her son and his wife were living in Council. And while she took a pay cut, she has been as successful here as she has been in her other coaching positions.
When asked what makes a good coach, Tucker said, “For me, it’s about making it fun for the kids. They put in a lot of hours practicing and playing and you have to make it fun.” She said they also travel thousands of miles each year going from game to game. “Sports can be a great motivator. Each player is a part of a team and responsible for the whole team. We try to teach a lot of life lessons on how to deal with heartaches and setbacks,” she said.
Her players appreciate her and are glad she is their coach. Player Rhianna Iveson said, “Coach Tucker has not only been a basketball coach to this group of girls but also a mentor in the game of life as well. Coach Tucker has taught us discipline and commitment in all we do. She commands respect but balances it with friendship. She teaches us, yells at us, laughs with us and cares about each of us. Over the last three years she has coached me, we have made countless memories. Basketball wouldn’t be what it is to me today without her influence. She’s taught me to love the game and play hard. I speak for all the girls when I say we sure love our Coach Tucker.”
Fellow player Hope Zollman agrees, “Coach Tucker has been the best coach we have ever had. Not only does she teach us to be good athletes, but she also teaches us to be good people. She cares for every one of us as if we were her own family.”
