Chance to coach Walla Walla girls basketball team a 'dream come true' for alum Anna Forge

Former Whitman College and Walla Walla High School basketball player Anna Forge saw a move back to southeastern Washington to work in the technology and wine industries as "a great opportunity to come back here and plant some deep roots."

"This was a special place to grow up," Forge said.

Forge has now accepted a charge to plant deep roots of a different kind. She was recently hired to be the next head girls basketball coach at Wa-Hi.

Forge, a 2007 Wa-Hi grad, played for the Blue Devils when they were a member of the Columbia Basin Big Nine Conference for coaches Jack Mehn and Jill Watkins (Meliah) along with teammates Semhar Kelati, Marnie Johnson (Kettleson), Jordan Kofler, Jen Keyes, and Melissa Eastman.

"It was really stacked," Forge said of the league. "Pasco had a few Division I commits. Moses Lake had a couple of girls 6-foot-3 and 6-4. It was a tough league, very competitive."

A four-year college career at Whitman followed and a chance to play for current head coach Michelle Ferenz. Forge's wife and former teammate, Hallie Buse, played on the 2013-14 Blues' squad that reached the championship game of the NCAA Division III tournament.

"It was about that time (in the late 2000s) that the program established consistent success and recruiting players to compete in (the Northwest Conference)," Forge said. "We were always fighting in the playoffs for an NCAA tournament berth. The league was absolutely stacked and the region was pretty strong too.

"At first, we were satisfied with doing well in conference," Forge said. "Then it got to the point where we were asking, 'Are we hosting (an NCAA tournament game)? Are we traveling?"

Forge, in the summers of 2010 and 2011, toiled in a resume-enhancing internship in athletic training for the WNBA's Seattle Storm.

"It was an incredible opportunity to be that close to basketball at that level," Forge said. "As a player, you knew what was going through other player's minds. It also gave me exposure to other coaches and peak behind the (strategy) curtain."

Forge served as both an assistant and head girls basketball coach at Bellevue's Sammamish High School from 2012-20. She was head varsity coach from 2017-20 and led her teams, assisted by Buse, to three district tournament appearances. Sammamish claimed one state tournament berth mid-decade.

"Coaching in high school is really hard - the gravity of being entrusted with other people's kids," Forge said.

Forge moved back to Walla Walla after her tenure at Sammamish. She was determined to not let a chance to coach at a school she played at slide by like she had in recent years.

"I thought this opportunity may not come again," Forge said. "I missed coaching at the high school level. I kept my finger on the pulse of it. I was not going to miss another opportunity."

Forge said cornerstones of her coaching philosophy include attitude and effort.

"If you have those things, teams will hate preparing for us because they don't know what we're going to throw at them, i.e., defensively," Forge said. "It's a matter of working hard and having confidence in the process."

As for the 2026-27 edition of the Blue Devils, Forge said she is adapting to her new team that will likely feature a majority of underclassmen. Last season, Wa-Hi suited up five seniors, a junior, and a handful of freshmen.

"I don't have them fully figured out, but the potential is incredible," Forge said. "They are competitive. At the end of the day, these kids want to win. They play hard in different ways and are unique in how they show their competitiveness."

And Forge closed by saying, "The opportunity to go back to my alma mater and lead a program is a coach's dream come true."

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