Tyrone Hoard retires after 8 seasons as Rogers girls basketball coach

Wins, and certainly not the losses, were not the definition of Tyrone Hoard’s coaching career as the Rogers girls basketball coach.

What speaks to Hoard’s accomplishments is the fact that his players, regardless of the outcome, always played hard – as if they had a chance to win.

Most of the time they didn’t.

Hoard has stepped down after eight seasons. Responsibilities in his new job – as a principal’s assistant at two elementary schools – make it difficult for him to continue as a head coach.

“I was blessed enough to coach one more year,” Hoard said. “I got to finish off with a group that I had been working with since fifth grade.”

Despite finishing 1-19, the Pirates were highly competitive and rarely blown out. Their overall record under Hoard was 5-155, 1-144 in league.

“It’s been my desire to get into administrative work,” said Hoard, who turns 39 years old next week. “The opportunity came open last summer and I couldn’t pass it up.”

His players knew all season this would be Hoard’s last.

“I told the girls there would be no other place I would be,” he said. “We were very competitive this year. At the end of our last game, we sat in the locker room and it was a really emotional time for all of us. Watching them grow and develop and become young adults – I’ll miss that.”

Rogers athletic director Jennifer Harmer will miss Hoard.

“Tyrone was an absolute pleasure to work with and he was adored here at John Rogers,” she said. “The players, staff and community will greatly miss him.”

Hoard was respected among his peers.

“I can’t begin to tell you the respect I have for Tyrone,” Central Valley coach Freddie Rehkow said. “He gave everything he has to the Rogers program, knowing good and well that he wouldn’t win very many games. That never stopped him from working his tail off and trying to make a difference in so many of those young girls’ lives. I saw the love and concern he has for those kids and he sacrificed his own success without ever complaining.”