Déjà vu: Blake back as PHS boys coach

PALMER — When Brandon Blake decided to resign as head coach of the Palmer High School boys basketball program nearly a decade ago, the longtime educator was ready to take a different path in his career. But in the nine years since Blake capped his nine-year run as head coach of the Moose boys’ program, his passion for the game, and for coaching, never disappeared.

If anything, it grew. And earlier this spring the opportunity to reclaim his old seat presented itself, and Blake was named head coach of the Palmer boys program.

“It never really goes away,” Blake said of the passion for coaching. “When I stepped away, at the time, for sure it was for the right reasons. I wanted to test the waters a little bit with the administration stuff. I really wanted to get involved with the youth stuff.”

After leading the Moose to a Northern Lights Conference title in 2004, Blake resigned as head coach of the Moose to become the school’s activities director. In his nine years away from the program, Blake has also coached at the youth level and spent the last two seasons as an assistant on the Palmer girls basketball varsity staff.

“(Former girls head coach Paul Reid) was nice enough to give that opportunity to work with him. If you’re a coach, it’s what you do your whole life. I don’t think it ever goes away,” Blake said.

Blake said spending the last two years as a varsity assistant led him to think more about becoming a head coach once again.

“Being back involved at the varsity level, competing at that level again, it definitely helped reassure it’s where I want to be,” Blake said.

Blake spent 10 years with the Palmer boys team during his first stint with the program. He started as an assistant during the 1994-95 season, the last year the Moose advanced to a 4A state title game. Blake took over as head coach the following season. In nine years as head coach, he was named Northern Lights Conference Coach of the Year twice, and capped the run by leading the Moose to the 2004 NLC title.

This time around, Blake will replace Jason Marvel, the first coach to lead the Moose to a NLC title since 2004. Marvel completed his fifth year as the Moose head coach in March, and resigned following the season to pursue other career opportunities outside of coaching. Marvel’s Moose beat Colony to win the 2013 NLC crown in early March.

Blake said he’s excited to enter his second tour of duty as a Palmer head coach.

“I feel more confident going in,” Blake said.

As a coach with the youth leagues during recent seasons, Blake had the opportunity to work with many of the players who will be entering the Palmer program in the coming years.

Palmer High activities director Jeff Thiede said Blake was the right fit for the position. Thiede said the combination of Blake’s prior experience with Palmer High, his time with the youth leagues and the experience he gained as an activities director made Blake an ideal candidate.

“With his qualifications, he was exactly what we were looking for,” Thiede said. “Even though he has not been directly involved with the Palmer boys program, he’s worked in the comp leagues and coached a lot of these kids.”

After Marvel made his resignation official, Blake was immediately interested, but needed time before he submitted his application.

“It took me a couple of weeks to make sure I felt it was the right move,” Blake said. “But the best way to put it, it really made sense. It’s something I love to do. I love the school, the program. I’ve been (at Palmer High) 19 years, and I plan on retiring from there.”

Blake is the second former Palmer head basketball coach to be brought back by PHS within the last month. In April, former longtime head coach of the girls program, Lyle Busbey, was named the successor to Paul Reid, who resigned as the PHS girls coach following the 2012-13 season.