EVERETT — After a one-year hiatus, Len Bone is returning to the sidelines.
The former longtime Snohomish coach has been named head coach of the Archbishop Murphy boys basketball team, the school announced Thursday.
Bone retired from coaching last spring after 21 seasons as Snohomish’s head coach. But after a year away from the game, he had the itch to return.
“I love the game and I missed it,” Bone said. “I missed not coaching this past year. … I missed practice and I missed being a part of a group of guys trying to improve individually and as a team. (And) I missed that camaraderie that you have with a coaching staff.”
Bone, a former Shorecrest star and part-time starter at Seattle Pacific University, has coached basketball for nearly four decades.
In addition to his time at Snohomish, he’s been the head coach at La Conner High School and University High School (Spokane). He also has held assistant-coaching positions with West Seattle High School, Central Washington University, Whitworth University and The Master’s College.
Bone’s overall high-school coaching record is 417-250, according to an Archbishop Murphy press release. He guided Snohomish to seven Class 4A state-tournament appearances — including six in a seven-year span from 2002 to 2008 — and four top-eight finishes.
“We’re really excited for what he brings our community — his integrity, wealth of knowledge and experience,” Archbishop Murphy athletic director Jerry Jensen said.
The Wildcats went 16-7 last season under first-year coach Anthony Slater, whose contract wasn’t renewed by the school. Archbishop Murphy went 2-2 in the district tournament, falling two wins short of state. The Wildcats haven’t reached the state tournament since 2008.
“I’m excited,” Bone said. “I know (Archbishop Murphy) has high standards in their athletics and academics, and their sports teams have done well. … I just hope that I can maintain that high standard, and I look forward to trying to do that.”
Bone, who still teaches at Snohomish, retired from coaching last May after undergoing his second knee-replacement surgery and deciding it was a good time to step away from the game and re-evaluate. Bone said he spent the winter “watching way more basketball than I should have on TV” and attending games at SPU, where his son, Kegan, is an assistant coach for the men’s basketball team.
“I just kind of felt like (I wanted to) step back and see what it feels like to not coach, because I’ve been doing it for a long time,” Bone said. “And it was good. There were a lot of things that were enjoyable about not coaching.
“But in the end, I felt like if I had a chance to coach a little bit more, I’d like to do it.”
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