After nearly a decade's detour to Northwest Pennsylvania, Meaghan Meabon is returning to Pittsburgh's northern suburbs.

A standout on some dominant teams at North Catholic in the 1990s, Meabon -- a Wexford native who is the former Meaghan Miller -- was named head coach of the Fox Chapel girls basketball team last week.

Meabon had a stellar career at Edinboro University, was an assistant coach there for a year and has been a head coach at the high school level for six seasons -- two at Conneaut Lake and the past four at General McLane.

"We're elated to have her," Fox Chapel athletic director Mike O'Brien said. "We think she'll do a tremendous job. She comes in with a plethora of experience, she was quite a player and she has proven herself a successful coach already at General McLane.

"We already have a successful program and we really look for that to continue on."

Meabon graduated from North Catholic in 1995 after having won three WPIAL and three PIAA titles. Her parents still live in Wexford.

During her four seasons as a coach at General McLane, she led the Lancers to their first District 10 title (they won their second this past season) and first PIAA tournament victory. General McLane advanced to the PIAA Class AAA semifinals this past season.

Meabon, who will teach as part of Fox Chapel's new alternative education program and also teach physical education, has met with her team a few times already. The Foxes are coming off a 21-6 season in which they played in the WPIAL Class AAAA championship game.

"They are returning a good number of players, and we've been very impressed with their basketball knowledge," Meabon said. "They have the hunger and desire. The open gyms have had great turnouts. They're hard-working girls, you can see that they have things you can't teach.

"They have the desire and want to work. It's a wonderful group, and what we want to put together as a team should go over well."

Meabon said the Foxes will participate in a summer league at North Allegheny.

Playing in a section with the likes of WPIAL powerhouse Oakland Catholic and a regularly strong program like Penn Hills and a team such as Gateway, which had the area's best freshman, Destiny Brown, continued success will be a challenge. But it's a challenge Meabon said she welcomes.

"No. 1 is to make sure the girls have fun," Meabon said. "I just think back to times I played and even teams I have coached; it's a long season and you want to make sure everyone's having fun with it.

"And we want to work on conditioning. If we're not the best team on the floor, we'll be the best-conditioned team. There have been lots of games in the past we won when we'd out run other teams in the fourth quarter. Who can keep going, conditioning will be a big part of the rest of the summer and into the fall."