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South Pasadena Unified School District (SPUSD) has selected Ernest Baskerville as the high school’s new boys’ varsity basketball coach.
“We interviewed a very strong and experienced group of candidates for the position and were impressed by their potential to impact our athletic program,” said South Pasadena High School (SPHS) Principal Janet Anderson. “Ultimately, Coach Baskerville stood out as the one to lead our program in the most positive direction. His background, track record, dynamism, and enthusiasm will bring a new and different energy to SPHS boys’ basketball.”
Baskerville has been coaching for more than twenty years. Most recently, he was the boys’ varsity basketball coach at Burbank High School. Prior to Burbank, he served as the head basketball coach at La Salle High School, Providence High School, and the Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies. He has also been an assistant basketball coach at the College of the Canyons in Santa Clarita.
“I am very excited about this new chapter of basketball and an opportunity to build the program at all three levels,” said Coach Baskerville. “My staff and I look forward to working with the student athletes and preparing them for the upcoming 2019-20 season.”
Baskerville currently works as the director of sports marketing for the John R. Wooden Award – a program that honors the nation’s top male and female collegiate basketball players of the year. He also works as an adjunct professor at Pasadena City College where he teaches a course for first-year student athletes designed to help develop successful academic and professional behaviors.
“Coach Baskerville brings high energy, and a vast knowledge of fundamentals and strategies for our student athletes to be successful. He plans to focus on developing players and building a supportive culture within the community,” said Athletic Director Anthony Chan. “Coach Baskerville breathes basketball through his work, his spirit of volunteerism, and his community focus. I am extremely excited for the basketball program with the mentorship and guidance that Coach Baskerville will give these young men.”
Baskerville has been recognized as a CIF Coach of the Year and five times as a Conference Coach of the Year.
