Lake Leelanau St. Mary basketball coach Clint Couturier has officially put away the clipboard after coaching girls and boys basketball for over a decade.
“I’ve got eight grandchildren now. The grandchildren are getting active and doing their thing. At this point in my life, it’s time to spend as much time with them as I possibly can. That was the big motivator,” Couturier said. “I just felt it was time where our grandchildren were. That pull was getting to be irresistible.”
Over his 10 year coaching career, Couturier coached three years with the boys, took off a year, and in 2018 came back with the girls basketball team and coached them for six season.
In those six years with the girls, Couturier turned the program around and went 81-40 during his tenure.
“This was such a great run all together. . . The community is fantastic. Everybody comes together to do what they need to do to put great teams on the floor,” Couturier said. “It speaks volumes for that community of what they can do every year. They always give it their best shot every night. It was just a really special time for me being Catholic and being able to express our Catholic faith and what we did was just a great outlet for me. It was a great time there, so I appreciate all of the support throughout the years. It was fun.”
“I thought so much of my players, what they could do and in the way they conducted themselves,” Couturier said.
Couturier coached simply for the love of the game. The way that he loved to see the game played was as a team.
“I don’t think you can look any further than this year’s team and the way they move the ball and the way they play together the way they play defense, it was just, it was a thing of beauty to me,” Couturier said. “It was really special, they had many great games. Overall for a season this year was really special. I think that really stands out to me.”
Another memorable moment was winning the district championship in 2022 for the first time since 2024 when the Eagles defeated Mesick 72-27. Couturier admits there were very few bad days while coaching the Eagles. In 2024, the Eagles defeated TC St. Francis and Glen Lake in the same season for the first time in program history.
“I’m gonna miss that, but I’ll be so busy with the grandkids, you know, I just have to move on,” Couturier said. “That’s the biggest thing that sticks out to me is just the being able to share the love of the game and when the kids really bought into it they see the results on the floor,” Couturier said.
