When former Slater hoops standout Melissa Krog graduated from college in 2001, she knew she wanted to coach basketball.

The question was where.

Krog had a chance to take over an already-successful Class 1 program, but "didn't want to go that route." Instead, she took an assistant's job in Independence, coaching freshmen for a season at Bricker Middle School before moving over as an assistant at Truman for four years.

"I wanted to mentor under someone to see how they do it, and build myself up to a head coach," explained Krog-Savaiinaea, 29, who married Independence native Eric Savaiinaea last summer.

The advanced training paid off earlier this month when Krog-Savaiinaea was hired to begin the program at Staley High School, the new North Kansas City district campus which opens in the fall.

Krog-Savaiinaea should be prepared. After playing for veteran coach Bob Gonzalez at Slater, leading the Lady Wildcats to the 1996 Class AA quarterfinals as a senior, she had four fine seasons under Mike Davis at Central Methodist -- winning 114 games and playing in four NAIA Tournaments, finishing third as a junior.

"Coach Gonzalez was one of my role models," Krog-Savaiinaea said. "Playing in the higher-level games, seeing the team come together, that impressed me as a player. It's something I want to pass down to our players.

"It was important to be part of two successful programs, in high school and college," she noted.

Soon it will be Krog-Savaiinaea's opportunity to build a program of her own, from scratch, but that her career track reached this point is no surprise. A self-described "gym rat" growing up, Krog-Savaiinaea always believed that coaching was the right career for her.

"I knew this is what I wanted to do," she said.