PRINCESS ANNE, Maryland — When she was a star point guard at Mardela High School, Casey Monroe-Gaskins (then Morton) chose the University of Maryland Eastern Shore and head coach Fred Batchelor over other notable offers including Mississippi State.

In spurning the Southeastern Conference program in favor of UMES, she left those in the area constantly wanting to know "why?" But some 16 years later, and with seven years of coaching on the bench with Batchelor under her belt, she still doesn't understand the question. The decision makes even more sense to her now as she embarks on her first season as the programs newly promoted Associate Head Coach on a campus where her mom, her stepfather and her sister all went to school.

"I'm so big on family and the places I came from," Monroe Gaskins said. "I'm not one to turn my back and leave and not give. Nothing was given to me growing up. I worked my butt off. So I came to a school, I played with great players, but I worked. I wanted nothing given to me. I want players to know that you have to take what is yours. I had someone who spent time with me and helped develop me not just as a player, but as an adult, as a human being and then as a basketball coach. That is what coach Batchelor has been for me and I owe it to him to flourish in this role. I am not going to let him down. I'm not going to let this campus down, not going to let this athletic department down. I'm not going to be a new person, but you are going to see more and hear more from me. I am super excited."

For Batchelor, the respect and admiration is mutual. He said that Monroe-Gaskins is more like a daughter to him than anyone outside his actual daughter. That doesn't mean there were never any bumps or that the relationship didn't have to evolve, but they have been able to count on each other.

"This is very rewarding in a sense of having a young lady who you have mentored since she was 17 years old work her way up into a position of leadership in the program," Batchelor said. "I'm proud of her. I'm proud of the program. I'm proud of all the people who played a role in her development from assistant coaches Revonda Whitley, Cedric Jenkins, Chris Massey, Sidney Raikes and the athletic staff here that were a part of her development and her growth from the time she was a student to a professional. It's great to see a local home grown product work their way up the ranks as a player and a coach to be in a position of leadership and the expectation from me is for her to one day lead this program."

A self-described basketball junkie, Monroe-Gaskins probably really never left the sphere of the program when she graduated. She made every game she could. She offered advice to the players that came after her. She was already giving back, but she never saw herself as a coach. Both she and Batchelor said that came with time. But both can point to a moment that may have been the genesis for where they find themselves now.

With the University of Maryland Eastern Shore leading five-time defending champions and No. 1 seed Hampton in the 2014-15 Mid-Eastern Conference second round, Batchelor turned to look into the stands at Scope arena. Sitting in the first row behind the bench was Monroe-Gaskins seeking his gaze.

"She was looking at me and she just gave me that confirming look that just said keep doing what you are doing," Batchelor said. "It was a moment that I'll never forget, so it doesn't surprise me that we are here. I leaned on her a lot. When she played for me, she was a coach on the floor. When she started working with us I just trusted her basketball savvy. She always had a good read on the game and on people."

"I was telling him 'you got this,'" Monroe-Gaskins said. "When you have someone that you trust, who is loyal, it is very special and  — like I tell the girls — before I even came back to coaching, I wanted that so much not for those players but for him. I have seen the work he has put in, the time he spent with his players, how genuine he is and how he loves his players. I think I am in a position now to help. I am not one to make promises, but I'm going to do my best job to help him get the championship he deserves. For my girls, for this campus — I'm ready."

Two years later, Monroe-Gaskins officially returned to her alma mater as a volunteer coach.

"I knew I wanted to be around the game, but I didn't know until I came back and was put in that volunteer role that this is what I wanted to do — not something just for the time being, but the rest of my life," she said. "I think it was a trip to the final four that year and the comradery of being around the other women coaches and the relationships that I developed with them."

As she began to be a true member of the staff, she learned so much more than she had as a player. She said she played her role by doing what was needed, but not inserting herself and being a sponge. Jenkins helped her learn the business side of coaching. She saw how Whitley was like the mother of the program and learned about building those relationships. She says those assistants along with later Raikes all helped build her into the coach she is today.

But it was Batchelor who she had studied and scrutinized over the years. She watched how he dealt with every situation on and off the court. She noticed when he changed his approach or even when he came into the gym in new shoes.

So when she walked into practice on her first official day as a coach she did so with her copy of the day's practice plan tucked into the back of her shorts like she had seen him do countless times.

By the next season Whitley had moved on to be a head coach at Claflin and Monroe Gaskins became a paid member of the staff and assumed more responsibilities. That year also marked Raikes' arrival as associate head coach. Raikes held the role for six seasons in which time he was a tremendous help with learning about recruiting, film study and game planning and other roles that she was growing into.

"I thought coach Raikes did a marvelous and selfless job of understanding that when he came on as associate head coach that ultimately our succession plan was Casey," Batchelor said. "He bought into that and he bought into the development of her to the coach she is today. As I looked at her phone the other day when he called it said 'Big Brother" on the screen for him. That's the type of culture and community that we have been able to build with a staff where the turnover has been very minimal and everyone has played a role in the development of each other."

She appreciated the time spent working with two "great basketball minds" and absorbing the knowledge that came with it. But the learning still came off the court too.

"In this last year in particular, we talked among ourselves as coaches and as mentors they would tell me they are preparing me for my next step," Monroe Gaskins said. "I appreciate them for that. I am genuinely grateful for the two of them having their support and them helping to mold me into the coach that I am. Being able to watch them first hand, they are people who actually care about their players and they are genuine in what they do. They work at their craft and to actually watch them and see how they move."

While Batchelor will always have a close relationship with his now Associate Head Coach, he believes that the reason she actually got into coaching is the woman who patrolled the sidelines for so many years at Mardela. He knows Barbara McCool probably laid the foundation for Monroe-Gaskins the player and the coach. As she scored over 2,500 career points at Mardela and was named conference Player of the Year as a senior, McCool was there. She drove her pupil to be selected to the Bayside First Team and as the Warriors' Most Valuable Player all four years while guiding her squad to four consecutive regular season and Bayside Championships in that same time span.

"I get my resilience from her," Monroe-Gaskins said. "I was able to be coached by someone who embodied the definition of hard work and commitment. When I was just 13 or 14 years old there were no excuses. I implemented a new motto with our group this year. 'Let's stay out of the red. No regrets, no excuses, no doubts.' She lived by that."

McCool, who eclipsed 600 career wins in 2008, passed away a year later after a long battle with cancer. McCool, who coached for 44 years and had also been the school's athletic director, fought to the end. In fact, in 2008 she went from being hospitalized to coaching on the sidelines while undergoing cancer treatments.

"There was no quit in her,' Monroe-Gaskins said. "She didn't put up with a lackadaisical attitude or lack of effort. I will always cherish the relationship I had with her and what she helped mold me into. I have two shirts with her picture on them that I wear on important days and one day when he will understand better I'll be telling my son all about her."

The young coach also often looks over letters McCool wrote her on the occasion of her high school graduation and her commitment to UMES. McCool's whistle also sits in Monroe-Gaskins' office in a shadow box along with an old photo as a reminder of their bond.

"I'm forever grateful for her and what I was able to learn not just as a player but as a woman," she said.

Monroe-Gaskins ended her collegiate career with 1,230 points, which is fourth all-time in the program's Division I history. The Eastern Shore native also ranks fourth in total assists (296) and total steals (188). In her freshman year, she won MEAC Rookie of the Year while earning a spot on the conference's All-Rookie Team. She was selected to the All-MEAC team in her senior year.

In 2022, she was inducted into the UMES Athletics Hall of Fame. She wanted every member of the team at the induction ceremony because she wanted them to see what hard work could bring you.

"I have been here for 19 years and I don't think I have ever come across an individual who loves this program as much as she does," Batchelor said. "This is an exciting time for me to watch her because she is so invested on so many different levels in this program and this community and what it all means to her and how she wants it to be represented.

"She has helped me understand as an outsider here what this means to the local community and the alumni of the University of Maryland Eastern Shore. It's great to be able to watch her spread her wings and elevate her relationships and the young women in the program. It has been a journey for her that she is fortunate and blessed to have been able to experience, but she has also been very committed."