Priester has won more than 800 games and multiple post-season tournaments
In addition to winning his 800th career game as a high-school basketball coach this season, Fred Priester also was the recipient of another significant achievement when he was voted into the Virginia High School Hall of Fame.
He will be one of eight new members inducted during an enshrinement dinner April 28 at the Omni Charlottesville Hotel at 3:30 p.m. The Hall of Fame is sponsored by the Virginia High School League.
Priester is the current head girls coach of the Oakton Cougars, a position he has held since the 1994-95 campaign. Prior to that, he coached the McLean Highlanders for 10 seasons, where his teams won 130 games.
Priester’s Cougars have won 674 times. He finished the 2023-24 season with 804 career victories.
The VHSL has Priester listed as the organization’s second in career wins (coaching only VHSL girls teams for all enrollment classifications) behind still-active coach Bill Gibson of West Springfield High.
Priester’s Oakton teams have won multiple district (20) and region (seven) championships and one state title, with three runner-up state finishes. The Cougars won the 2012 state championship with a 31-0 record.
Under Priester, Oakton has played in the state tournament 11 times, including this season and last. The Cougars finished 22-7 this season, won a Concorde District tournament championship, then was second in the 6D North Region tourney to earn a state berth.
Priester has coached many players who went on to play in college. Two were former Duke University and WNBA guard Jasmine Thomas and current University of Virginia women’s head coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton. Both wrote nomination letters about Priester to the Virginia Hall of Fame, along with current Oakton director of student activities Pat Full and former DSA Dave Morgan and current longtime Oakton trainer Paul Rupp. Thomas and Morgan are Hall of Fame members. Thomas is one of the all-time top scorers in VHSL girls basketball history.
Priester also has long been the president of the Northern Virginia Women’s Basketball Coaches Association, which has held a postseason Suburban Classic girls all-star game for nearly 20 years that Priester has organized. Scholarships and Players of the Year are awarded at the game. He also has overseen a preseason college showcase event for some 22 years.
