Everett High School filled the last of its two coaching vacancies that opened up in March.
Everett School District athletics director Robert Polk announced Friday that Bobby Thompson — a 1996 Everett graduate — has been hired as the school’s new head boys basketball coach.
“I’m still kind of processing everything and how cool it is,” Thompson said. “I’m so honored to have this chance, and it’s going to be special.”
Thompson takes over for Bryce Levin after spending the past five years with The Everett Hoop Club, an AAU program for boys and girls from fourth through eighth grade that live within Everett High School’s enrollment area, and is already familiar with many Seagulls players through the AAU program and time working in the community.
“A lot of them — when they were elementary school kids — I used to go volunteer at the school and I’d play pickup basketball with them,” Thompson said. “So I go back quite a ways with a lot of them, and I’ve built some great relationships with them. They’re great kids and have a high work ethic and a high desire to learn. And they want to be a part of something great.”
The Seagulls are coming off a 3-16 season and have had only one winning season since at least 2006.
Thompson hopes to rejuvenate a program that he helped to a fifth-place finish at the 1995 Class 4A state tournament during his junior year at Everett.
“When things are really humming here, it really connects to the community,” Thompson said. “It does something special for the school and for the culture of the school. So I just want to be a conduit that helps make that a reality.”
Thompson played at South Puget Sound Community College from 1996 to 1997. He took an assistant job with the Seagulls from 1998 to 2000 before finishing out his college career at the University of Maine at Fort Kent — an NAIA school.
After finishing his playing career, Thompson got married and took a break from the hardwood. He now has three kids.
His sister, Jeannie Thompson, was a longtime coach for the Jackson High School girls basketball program.
Thompson said he’s excited to build on the foundation that Levin and past coaches Darrell Olson and Roger Haug have built.
“It’s a special place in my heart, that program,” Thompson said. “I hold it in really high regard. Quite honestly, I’m pretty overwhelmed with getting the opportunity. I treasure it greatly, and it’s gonna be something I put every ounce of my being into.”
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