Tim Tucker Takes Talents to Maranatha

It’s the end of an era for Pasadena High School basketball, as beloved coach Tim Tucker, one of the area’s winningest, has moved on to sign with Maranatha High.

“It’s not that Pasadena got boring or anything like that,” Coach Tucker said about his 19 years at PHS. “I just wanted to see if I could do something else.”

Coach Tucker has deep roots with Pasadena High School, being a 1978 graduate and winning two CIF championships as a player. As a coach, he has won 15 league championships, nine of those in consecutive years, and two CIF championships. He was also named Star-News Coach of the Year five times.

It is this winning pedigree that has Maranatha excited to have Coach Tucker at the basketball program helm. Coach Tucker is confident that his first season will be a success.

“I think we’re going to win the league… my goal is to win the league, and maybe go at least three rounds at CIF,” Tucker said.

Though Pasadena and Maranatha Highs are just 5 miles apart, the history of the two basketball programs is worlds apart. Pasadena High School, with an enrollment of approximately 2,000 students, has a storied history of basketball success and has played for many CIF championships. Maranatha, with only 665 students, has won 22 CIF championships but is yet to arrive at a CIF championship in the sport of basketball.

Coach Tucker believes that “the same thing is going to happen at Maranatha. [The] kids are committed to excellence, the school is committed to excellence.”

“I believe if you put the right program together and the kids buy into it and take ownership of it, we got a good chance to make some things happen here as well,” Tucker added.

As for the future of Pasadena High School basketball? Coach Tucker is hoping his assistant, Tony Brooks, himself a former Bulldog, will take over the PHS basketball program and continue its successes.

For more about Maranatha High School Athletics, see http://www.maranatha-hs.org/page.aspx?pid=431