Jan. 2, 2006

By Mike Organ, Tennessean Staff Writer -

The basketball gods must have deemed that Gary van Atta and Kristin Archie would be together.

No matter which paths their respective lives have taken, they have ended up on the hardwood together, whether by design or by circumstance.

Van Atta, the coach, and Archie, a transfer guard, are together again at Trevecca Nazarene University (Tenn.), where they've helped the Trojans to a 14-0 record and the team's highest national ranking (NAIA) ever at No. 4.

"I was like, 'Oh my gosh, this is unbelievable,' when I first heard Coach van Atta was coming to Trevecca,'' Archie said. "I was sitting in a math class during the summer when I found out. I'll never forget that day.''

There's no surprise to Archie's surprise. She already was close to van Atta. Their paths had crossed before.

It began when Archie was a baby, 1 year old to be exact. Her dad, Rob Archie, was an assistant on van Atta's staff at Gallatin High School, when the Green Wave went undefeated and won the 1987 state championship.

Another connection involves Father Ryan High School. Kristin, who is from Mt. Juliet, entered high school at Father Ryan and became a star in basketball and soccer. Van Atta, who also is from Mt. Juliet, had begun his basketball coaching career at Father Ryan.

Van Atta would eventually become the women's basketball coach at the University of Tennessee-Martin, and it was there that he recruited Archie when she became a Father Ryan senior. She committed early in her senior year and wound up at UT-Martin.

Archie redshirted as a freshman, and van Atta left UT-Martin later that year to become the boys' basketball coach at Mt. Juliet High School.

After her redshirt freshman season at UT-Martin, Archie transferred to Trevecca to play for then-Trojans Coach Julie van Beek.

"I just figured Trevecca was a better opportunity for me to be close to home so my parents could see me play more,'' Archie said. "After going to Martin, I realized I wanted to be closer to home, and I wanted to be in the religious environment because that's what I was used to. That's what I had grown up in my whole life.''

Not long after Archie came home, she got word that van Beek had been offered a job at Seattle Pacific University, a move that would allow van Beek her to be closer to her home.

"I was disappointed because I had heard so many good things about Coach van Beek,'' Archie said.

"I was very happy that I was getting the opportunity to play basketball for her. Now she was leaving, and I didn't know what was going to happen.''

What happened was that van Atta promptly re-entered Archie's life. He was hired to replace van Beek, and the relationship was brought full circle.

And this time, apparently, it's going to stick. Van Atta promised Archie that the day they reunited.

"When I saw her at Trevecca the day I was hired, and we hugged each other and said it was nice to see each other again, I kind of whispered to her, 'I just want you to know, I'm not going anywhere this time.' She said the same back to me,'' said van Atta, who played at Trevecca in the 1970s.

"Obviously, she was the only player I knew when I got here. I knew a lot of people at Trevecca, but she was the only player.''

Archie moved into the starting lineup in Trevecca's fourth game and has been there ever since. She was named the TranSouth Player of the Week recently after averaging 17 points and totaling seven assists and five blocks in two victories. She is averaging 9.6 points per game and is second on the team with 35 assists.

"She has really come into her own here at Trevecca,'' van Atta said. "It was just a matter of getting back into the groove of things and playing again.''