Who’s Snow Canyon’s New Basketball Coach? — Southern Utah

Listen to the full interview above

The Snow Canyon Warriors new boys basketball Coach Ryan Ball joined us this week on The Andy Thompson Show.

On Hiring Process

"I applied on a Wednesday and on Thursday morning I got a call from [principal Kim Monkres], saying they'd like to move quickly, and wanted to bring me in for an interview on Tuesday morning...I felt like the interview went really well and by the late afternoon they called me and said 'you're our guy!' So it was pretty exciting how fast it moved and they made me feel like they really wanted me so that was nice how quickly they made the hire.

On Coaching Career

I started coaching in 2014, but then got back into it in 2017-18 with a buddy of mine, coaching club basketball. And then I coached against a club Utah Premier and a lady named Anita Rowland. She's really the one who was kind of my mentor. She gave me the head coaching job of two high school level teams and then after the first season she gave me the boys director position. And that gave me a lot of validation.

On His Coaching Philosophy

I think the biggest thing is I really like developing relationships with players. My former players at Utah Premier, I'm still really good friends with them. It's something I really pride myself in getting to know the kids and investing myself in being interested in their future and what they want to do moving forward and helping them succeed.

On Taking Over a Quality Program at SCHS

Doug [Meacham] did an awesome job with the program. He lead them to a state championship, last year they were a contender again. I've heard great things about how well the teams within the school work together and they communicate with each other and share the athletes. High school sports, for a lot of kids, is kind of a last stop for competitive sports and I think it's really important for the kids to have a really good experience and I've heard and seen great things from Snow Canyon...

There's going to be some pressure on myself to continue what Doug has built. I hope I can live up to those expectations and hopefully exceed them. But I think it's going to be a good challenge and it's going to be fun to try and carry that over.

Listen to The Andy Thompson Show weekdays from 4-6pm on ESPN 97.7