Todd Kent: Lind athlete’s career stays on the hardwood

For Lind High School graduate Todd Kent, life on the sidelines of the basketball court has translated to extreme success on the hardwood.

Kent is in his fourth year as the head coach for the women’s basketball team at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Kent is the son of Phil and Carol Kent, and a 1991 graduate of Lind High School.

As a self-described average athlete, Kent never had the expectation of playing college sports, but coaching provided him with an opportunity he could not refuse. His career as a coach began during college and it has been a passion that has spanned a lifetime.

After graduating from high school, Kent moved to Seattle and played baseball at Shoreline Community College. Through his work-study course, he served as manager for the basketball team and at the request of the coach, began playing for the team when too many athletes became ineligible.

Kent moved on to join the Marine Corps Reserve as an undergraduate and earned his bachelor’s degree from Eastern Washington University. In 1998, he moved to Yakima and soon became assistant general manager for the Yakima Bears minor league baseball team.

He moved across the nation for nine months to help coach baseball and returned to Yakima to earn his Master’s degree. He received his master’s in teaching from Heritage University in 2003, while simultaneously teaching at La Salle High School.

Kent admitted he fully intended on leaving the Yakima area after completing his degree, but was approached with the opportunity to coach the La Salle girls’ team. After initially hesitating on taking the job, Kent found himself blessed with success and talented athletes as he spent the next five years coaching the team.

In his five years as head coach for the La Salle girls, Kent compiled a record of 106-23 and led the team to the State B title in 2006. He was awarded the Seattle Times Washington State Coach of Year in 2006 and 2007, also providing him the opportunity to coach the state women’s all-star game during those years.

During his time coaching at La Salle, Kent also taught and served as the Dean of Students for the school. His success as a coach quickly helped him gain recognition, sending him into an assistant coaching position at Seattle University, and eventually provided him with the chance to take on the head-coaching role at UCSC.

This season provided a series of firsts for the UCSC women’s team, who had 14 wins and defeated the 10th ranked team in the country. The program has not had a winning season in it’s history, and Kent expects the team to win over 20 games next season as they did not graduate any athletes out of the program this year.

A couple of weeks ago, Kent learned he has been nominated for the Western Region Coach of the Year for women’s basketball. He has also received the conference award for coach of the year multiple times.

“I’ve always been blessed with coaches that are better than me; it was a reflection of how good of assistant coaches I had,” Kent said.

“It holds true at Santa Cruz. I have a staff that really excels in their specific areas. I’m just lucky to be the person who gets recognized.”

Throughout his career as a coach, Kent has served as assistant and head coach for a variety of teams. He coached for a short time in Lind for the football and basketball team, and then in Rosalia for two years.

Kent made the decision to continue coaching women’s athletics because of women’s natural characteristic of wanting to learn and being coachable.

“A lot of it has to do with the expectations of the players. It doesn’t have to do with the gender; it’s more about how they adapt to the expectations,” Kent said.

He continued on to explain that coaching men’s athletics, there tends to be an ego in the athletes, but women are typically able to put their arrogance aside.

“Instead it’s the way of wanting to learn, it’s for the benefit of the team. There’s more of an openness in women’s athletes. They have a better sense of self, of what they can and cannot do, and a better understanding of self,” he added.

The transition from growing up in Lind as a Bulldog and now coaching in Santa Cruz as a Banana Slug has been smooth for Kent, who does not see a big difference between the lifestyle of the two communities.

“I’ve always enjoyed a small community. We’ve always been close to my neighbors and people around me. It’s kind of the same type of community as Lind,” Kent said. “I just brought that to the big city.”

Kent is the father of two daughters, Frances and Hazel, and has been married to his wife, Stephanie, for six years.

Kent is hoping his daughters inherit their mother’s athletic ability if they pursue a future in sports, but four-year-old Frances is currently more focused on being a princess and not a basketball player. Kent explained 16-month-old Hazel has recently started totting around a stuffed basketball, so her future as an athlete may be more promising.

His main priority in life is his family and he is always striving to give his children the feeling of community that he felt growing up in Lind. The family spends their free time on the beach, hiking, volunteering at Frances’ school, and developing a community with their neighbors.

Along with coaching, Kent also teaches recreation courses for around 85 students at UCSC, and also runs the Nike Basketball Camp: a camp that draws athletes from around the world.

“The common denominator is I’ve always enjoyed working with kids and teaching,” Kent said. “It’s something that I enjoyed and I was good at, and liked being able to impact lives through teaching.”

“I think I’m always striving for the next highlight. I’m blessed that I won a state title as a coach, and I’m really lucky to work with great coaches,” Kent explained. “My personal highlight now is to be at University of Santa Cruz.”