Former Portland Trail Blazers great Brandon Roy is no longer the head coach of the Garfield High School boys basketball team, according to The Seattle Times.
The news came from Garfield principal Tarance
Hart in a letter to parents:
“We are beginning a new chapter as we reset both programs, building on past successes while continuing to grow opportunities for our student-athletes — academically, socially, and athletically,” Hart wrote. “Our goal is to foster a competitive, academically supportive, and welcoming program that provides a positive experience and meaningful opportunities for all students.”
The Seattle Medium was credited by The Seattle Times as having the news first. Writing for The Medium, Chris B. Bennett had this to say about the changes:
These changes are an alleged effort to improve the culture of the program and to produce student-athletes that excel socially, academically, and athletically—just in time to ruin their upcoming season and quest for another state championship.
None of this meets the smell test. And while Hart is the person falling on the sword, I would suggest, and others would agree, that there is someone else controlling the puppet strings.
The question brewing in the community right now is, why would you remove two very successful coaches from programs that mean so much to the kids, the school, and the community? Especially when, by most accounts, both programs are considered to be two of the most prominent/dominant programs in the state.
Beyond the individual stories of these coaches, the district has a responsibility and a policy that is supposed to ensure that athletics are managed with transparency, fairness, and equity. When teams are left without leadership, forced to forfeit games, or lose role models who reflect the students they serve, it raises questions about whether the broader commitments to student growth, safety, and racial equity are truly being upheld.
The real question is, why and who? And what is their real agenda? Who is attempting to ruin the successful sports culture in Seattle that took so long to build? Kids from Seattle are finally getting to the big stage and getting scholarship offers from big-time programs, and many of them have charted a pathway to professional sports—creating an even bigger spotlight on Seattle athletics.
Who in their right mind would let go of one of the most successful high school basketball coaches of his time in Brandon Roy?
Roy was first named Garfield’s coach in 2017, but stepped away for the 2018-19 before returning in 2019, stepping away in 2020, and returning once more in 2022. During his tenure, Roy won state titles in 2018, 2020, and 2023.
