Hoquiam High School announced Friday that former graduate Kyle Blumberg has been hired as new head coach of the boys basketball team.

Blumberg, who graduated as a Grizzly student-athlete in 1991, is a former Air Force veteran who moved to California in 2003. While there, he developed an AAU boys basketball program that has grown to include 85 third- to 11th-grade athletes and competes at the highest club basketball levels in California.

In 2019, Blumberg joined the coaching staff at Redondo Union High School (Redondo Beach, California), which competes in the California Interscholastic Federation’s Southern Section Division 1, which is arguably the most competitive section in the nation.

Blumberg decided to move back to Grays Harbor at the end of the 2019-20 season to be closer to family.

“HHS is very excited about Kyle taking the lead with our Grizzlies boys basketball program,” Hoquiam Athletic Director Annette Duvall said. “Kyle is a home grown Grizzly and will be living his dream as our head boys basketball coach.”

“I appreciate the opportunity to lead the boys basketball program,” Blumberg said. “It is a huge honor to represent Hoquiam High School and our entire community. I am so excited to start meeting the players, families and focus forward with the challenge of building upon our basketball program. I absolutely love being a Grizzly.”

Blumberg takes over for former head coach Curtis Eccles, who stepped down from the position in early August after 14 seasons.