By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor
On Wednesday, May 1, at 12 p.m., Athletic Director Rocky Montz announced that Jeff Bryant has been hired as the boys head basketball coach at Palisades Charter High School. He will be on campus Tuesday, May 7, to meet the players.
Bryant resigned March 1 as basketball coach at West Ranch High in Santa Clarita after four and a half seasons in which his teams posted a 45-1 mark in Foothill League play, including three league titles, and a CIF Southern Section Open Division playoff berth in 2023. Bryant started off as an assistant at West Ranch in 2017 and took over the reins as varsity coach during the 2019-20 season.
Among Bryant’s former players who went on to Division I college programs are James Evans (UNLV), Andrew Meadow (Boise State), Jaqari Miles (Montana State) and Jazz Gardner (Nevada).
Bryant was among several candidates who interviewed for the job, and he becomes the sixth head coach in program history, replacing Dolphins alum and girls assistant LeBre Merritt, who served as interim boys coach in 2023-24 after Donzell Hayes and his staff were asked to step away from the team one day before the season opener following a tumultuous summer during which nine high-profile players transferred to Palisades in a period of six weeks, fueling questions about illegal offseason contact.
The City Section conducted an investigation and by the time last season started all but three of the transfers had been denied eligibility or left campus. Another senior quit the team after the season began.
Read more about Bryant’s hire in the Thursday, May 9, print edition of the Palisadian-Post.
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