SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. – The Viking’s junior varsity coach and assistant varsity coach of two years is taking the helm of the boys varsity team. Phil Bryant isn’t worried about stepping into the role as head coach.

“Transitioning is really not an issue,” he says, since he’s been a head coach for the majority of his career. Before joining the Vikings, he was head coach at George Whittell High School for 10 years.

He recalls a list of names of prior coaches that came before him at South Tahoe and lists them off to the Tribune, “…a number of names of guys that have been the head coach there that have done a tremendous job.”

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The players too. He describes the gym wall photos of players of the year, state and league stars—some in black and white. “All of that history is pretty tremendous.”

He hopes to pick up where they left off. “The South Tahoe program has a lot of history in it and it’s taking advantage of that history”

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He’s excited to be a part of it and brings with him a decorated history of his own. In his coaching career, spanning both California and Nevada, he estimates he’s had over 1,000 career wins as a head coach, including numerous regional titles as well as state championship wins at Whittell, “Which means I’ve had pretty good players,” he adds.

With around 25 players of the year, he says player development has always been a part of his career. His background running Adidas development camps on a national level for 25 years has helped with that.

“We want to compete and we want to win, just like everybody does,” he says, “but I think the development of the person, individual, is vitally important,” and adds, “we want to make sure that every kid knows his value.”

He lists Principal Justin Zunino, Athletic Director Kevin Hennessee, and Superintendent Todd Cutler, “All of those guys are trying to do the best things for their kids.” It was this administrative support at the school that drew him to the position. “Plus the kids are great kids.”

He describes the school’s culture as friendly and positive. Bryant has seen Zunino care not just for the culture of the school, but also the character and integrity of the coaches and teams. It fits right in with the aspects Bryant wants to base his program on. “It goes way beyond the fact of winning and losing and goes into what kind of contribution are we making to those kids?”

When it comes to the game, Bryant plans on changing the team’s pace by increasing the tempo of offense and defense. He hopes to carry a positive attitude into every practice and game, but that doesn’t mean he’ll be going easy on the team. “We need to practice hard because if you practice hard, you play hard.” He saw the kids display that this spring and hopes to carry it forward into next season.

The head coach plans on being involved at every level, including the feeder programs and the middle schools.

Having coached the JV team for two years—going undefeated in both—he knows there’s a talented group of youth coming up the ranks that will add to the skill of the upperclassman.

Bryan has participated in education for the last 50 years, including as dean and athletic director as well as teaching a myriad of subjects, including physical education, business, and even drama. Basketball isn’t the only thing he coaches. He’s also the offensive coordinator for South Tahoe’s football team and past Whittell head football coach. He left his administrative duties at Whittell in 2022. “This is about as close as I can get to retirement,” he jokes.

The love for the game isn’t just reserved for the kids, “I want them to know I’m having as much fun as they are.”

He thinks back to the great memories shared with kids he’s coached, who now have their own families.

“So we all have these great memories when we played and I want to create great memories for these kids, regardless of if they are a starter and score 20 or they come off the bench and score two.”