The girl was Jody Anton, who today is Jody Wynn and the first-year head coach at the University of Washington. She would go on to play for Trakh in high school, helping Brea Olinda to three California state championships. Later, when he became a college head coach, first at Pepperdine University and then at the University of Southern California, she would be his assistant coach for 13 seasons.

Trakh, said Wynn, has been like “a second father figure for me.” Over the years they have studied game films, debated strategies and spent time in the gym so Wynn could improve her game. It was Trakh who convinced her that she could play college basketball, and later he persuaded her that she could become a coach herself.

“I owe the educational opportunity I had at USC and then my entire career to him,” Wynn said. “None of it would’ve happened (without him). He not only coached me, he guided me and he mentored me. And he allowed me to have a career that I absolutely love.”

“I’m very proud of what Jody’s accomplished,” Trakh said. “To see the way she’s honed her talents and improved to where she’s now the head coach at the University of Washington, yeah, it’s a great thrill.

“For me,” he added, “it’s a little like seeing your daughter out there. I’m just really, really proud of what she’s been able to do.”

Wynn became an immediate starter at Brea Olinda, and she continued to excel throughout her four years. By her senior season she was one of the state’s top players, renowned for both her physical skills and a relentless desire to win.

“She was a really intense competitor,” Trakh said. “That kid just refused to lose.”

Though usually a shooting guard, the 6-foot Wynn could play anywhere on the court. That was evidenced in one of the team’s state championship games when she played all five positions. The last position she played was point guard, and it happened in the fourth quarter because the Lady Cats’ regular point guard was ill with the flu and had to leave the game.

Recalled Trakh, “I looked at Jody and said, ‘Can you play point guard?’ And she said, ‘I guess I’m going to have to.’ The other coach saw that she was the point guard and they tried to press her, but she was handling the press, (dribbling) behind her back, and we ended up winning the game.”

Still, there were sometimes moments of tension between the fiery player and the impassioned coach.

“He coached me hard … and by the time of my junior and senior years of high school we had almost a love-hate relationship,” Wynn said. “He demanded so much of me and I was very, very stubborn. I loved him like a father, but then I would get so upset at different things.”

Ultimately, though, Trakh “made me stronger and tougher, both mentally and physically. He kept pushing me to be the very best I could be.”

After high school, Wynn went on to play four years at USC, helping the Trojans to one Pacific-10 Conference title and three NCAA Tournament appearances. In her sophomore season, Trakh became the head coach at Pepperdine. They continued to keep in touch, and he was soon suggesting she might become a coach, too.

He evidently convinced her because Wynn graduated from USC in the spring of 1996, and the day after her commencement ceremony she was at Pepperdine, in the city of Malibu north of Los Angeles, signing a contract to become a Waves assistant coach. She was 22 years old.

“(Trakh) afforded me an incredible opportunity to coach on the court right away,” Wynn said. “He taught me to strategize. He taught me how to run a program and how to manage a team.

“He always told me that I’d be a head coach by time I was 28. I’d say, ‘I don’t know, I’ve got a lot to learn.’ And he’d say, ‘No, you have what it takes.’ He groomed me from Day 1 and he allowed me to blossom.”

At the outset, Trakh said, what stood out about Wynn as a young coach was “her teaching ability. She knew how to impart her knowledge to her players. She was just a great teacher, and I saw that when she was 22 years old and my assistant at Pepperdine. The kids respected her and they listened to her.”

She also showed prowess in recruiting. As she was getting settled in her new job, she asked Trakh about the schools Pepperdine typically competed against for players. He mentioned a few of the Los Angeles area’s mid-majors, among them schools like Cal State Fullerton and Cal State Northridge.

“And she said, ‘Nah, we’re going to recruit against UCLA and SC,’” Trakh said with a chuckle. “I looked at this 22-year-old coach and told her, ‘It’s not that easy, Jody.’ But son of a gun if she didn’t bring us some players that were recruited by what was then the Pac-10. She won some recruiting wars.”

During their eight seasons together at Pepperdine, “we turned the program around,” he said. “We won four (West Coast Conference) titles, and Jody was very integral in that.”

Sunday’s game will be the first head-to-head coaching showdown between Wynn and Trakh, and it will be anything but just another game.

“I met her when she was in the fifth grade, and then you fast-forward 30 years and we’re coaching against each other in the Pac-12,” Trakh said. “I don’t know what you call it. Is it irony? I don’t know what the word is, but it’s funny how life works.

“Yes, it’ll be a little surreal,” he admitted. “I’m sure once we get into the game it’ll just be coaching, but it’s definitely a surreal feeling.”

“We never wanted to coach against each other because we’re each other’s biggest cheerleader,” Wynn said. “So it’s going to be really strange to peer down the sideline and see him there … because I’m still his biggest fan.

“I’m going to be so emotional, I just know. To me, it’s almost like you’re coaching against a legend … because I think he’s one of greatest coaches I’ve ever been around. You coach against great coaches throughout the Pac-12 and at so many other great programs, but he’s my only legend.”