Saturday night’s enshrinement of the 2026 Washington State Girls Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame class was as much a reunion as it was a ceremony.

The five coaches – Granger’s Andy Affholter, La Salle’s Alyssa Goins, Zillah’s Brandie Valadez, Colfax’s Corey Baerlocher and Colton’s Clark Vining – shared not only the Eastern Washington landscape, but plenty of experiences.

Sometimes coaching against each other, at other times enjoying paralleled success in different classifications, the coaches built strong bonds.

“We spent a lot of time together over our coaching careers,” said Goins the morning of the induction. “I could not be happier to be included with them.

“We had so many fun, fun battles – talk about coaches that made you better.”

The night was heavy on the Yakima Valley. Affholter (Toppenish), Goins (West Valley) and the late Bounds (Zillah) are alums of the area’s high schools.

Yet, in all the luminaries, Goins had the ultimate exclusivity. She is the only female enshrinee who also was a head boys coach, leading the Lightning boys to the 2007 state tournament before taking the reins of the girls program when Todd Kent departed for the college ranks.

“It was so much fun, and that was a really special group of boys,” Goins said of the team, many of whom were part La Salle’s state runner-up football team and championship baseball squad.  “They were just an amazing group of athletes. They were OK being coached by a woman, they respected me and there were plenty of jokes and fun.”

The next season, she coached the Lighting to the Class 2B state championship in the Spokane Arena, a place she would compete against and help form a close friendship with Baerlocher, who led the Bulldogs to eight state championships (four in 2B, four in 1A).

Their camaraderie was on display Saturday night, worthy of comedy show, one attendee said.

Goins helped La Salle jump to 1A, where the Lightning often battled Affholter’s Spartans and Valedez’s Leopards.

The Lightning again reached the pinnacle in 2019, capturing the 2019 championship in the Yakima Valley SunDome.

In its semifinal victory against Cashmere, Goins unleashed a seemingly endless rotation of players from La Salle’s state champion soccer team to harass Bulldogs star and future WNBA player Hailey Van Lith.

“It was two similar but different experiences,” Goins said of the championships. “The La Salle community always traveled well to Spokane, but to be able to win in our own backyard was so special and fun.”

Goins stepped away a couple years ago, having coached 16 seasons and won more than 275 games on the girls side.

She hasn’t closed the door on a return to the sidelines, but is happy watching her daughter, Peyton, play at her alma mater. The guard averaged nearly 8 per game as a sophomore this past winter.

“I’m really enjoying watching her play,” the coach said. “I’m pretty content.”

Affholter also started as a boys coach, earning a good chunk of his nearly 400 career wins leading Mabton.

As the Spartans coach, he transformed a program that hadn’t won a state trophy since the late 1970s into one of the state’s top 1A teams.

Granger won 260 games, nine state trophies in a 10-year span, and appeared in the 2009 and 2010 under his watch.

Valadez, nee Bounds, was a multisport star at Zillah, eventually playing basketball at Eastern Washington before returning to her hometown.

In 13 seasons, led Zillah to 244 victories, four district titles and nine trips to the state tournament, where the Leopards captured three state trophies, including a fourth-place finish in 2025.

After a yearslong battle with cancer, Valadez died in last August.

Dedicating the season to her, the Leopards – which included her sophomore daughter Bella, all-league sharpshooter who accepted on behalf of her mother Saturday night – won the 1A state championship under first-year coach and Zillah graduate Joel Yellow Owl.

“Brandie is a major pillar in Zillah basketball and our community,” Leopards boys coach Mario Mengarelli said. “Not only was she one of the best athletes to come out of Zillah, but to come back and give back to the community that did so much for her meant a lot. I was very fortunate to coach alongside her for many years and I’ve always envied her love for her players and the game.

“Watching Bella and the rest of the Lady Leopards elevate the program to the highest level makes all of Leopard Nation proud. Brandie will forever be missed in our community.”