Basketball and family are synonymous with Interlake Saints girls basketball coaches Scott Marcum and Tori Marcum.

The Marcum family lived and breathed the sport for the past 13 seasons, but the couple announced in early May they would be resigning their respective coaching positions. The Marcum’s have four children together and Tori recently gave birth to twins in December 2015.

“We have a six-year-old, three-year-old and the twins are four-and-a-half months old,” Tori said. “We always want to give 100 percent in whatever we do and it got to the point where we looked up into the stands and our kids are up there. Ty (six-year-old) is starting up his own basketball and now Landon (three-year-old) is going to be doing that too. The twins were just born and we can’t give 100 percent to both them and the team. The team has been our family. It has been a very difficult decision for us but the parents and players really know that what comes first is always family.”

Scott said whoever lands the Saints coaching position for the 2016-17 season will inherit a talented roster.

“The cupboard isn’t empty,” he said. “They are going to be a tough team. Last year, we finished over .500 (winning percentage) and next year will be a very senior-heavy group. I wanted the new coach to have a lot of success and this group is one of the best we have ever coached. The new coach is going to have some really great kids to work with and that was important to us.”

During the Marcum’s tenure on the sidelines, their children were totally immersed within the culture of the Interlake girls basketball program.

“The reality is that we just took the kids with us. The kids were part of the show. They came to practice with us,” Scott said. “We had great support from the administration, parents and our players. We had parents who watched our kids during the games in the stands. Our boys (Ty, Landon) looked forward to practice every day. They would run lines with the girls, shoot baskets on the side and tried to run drills. It was hilarious. It really added to the family atmosphere of the team.”

Tori said she and her husband throughly enjoyed coaching together but they focused on different parts of the basketball equation.

“He does a lot of the detail work with the plays … I do a lot of the individual (one-on-one) work with the players. It has been a nice balance,” she said.